Can every recursion be changed to iteration?

Question

Is every recursive function convertible to iteration? What characteristic should a recursive function have in order for it to be implemented using iteration?

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Answer 1

Like the other answers already stated, it's technically possible to do that with simulating the stack. But I guess you don't want to do that. You probably want an iterative solution without using a stack. If that's the case you need to have a tail recursive function. AFAIR that's the only possible way. You can rewrite every tail recursive function to an imperative one without simulating a stack.