Using method to call Factorial

public static long factorial(int max) {

long factorial = 0;
for (int i = 2; i <= max; i++) {
if( i <= 1 ) // base case
return 1;
else

return i * factorial( i - 1 );
System.out.println("Factorial " + i + " value " + i);
}

return factorial;
}
Help meee:( im trying to print out the factorial for max. I know how the factorial process works, but i dont get how this works.
thanks a whole bunch.

That program won't work. You are trying to combine recursive and iterative methods of finding the factorial. To do recursive:

Code:

---

public static int factorial(int a)
{
if(a == 1)
return 1;
return a*Classname.factorial(a-1);
}

---

for iterative:

Code:

---

public static int factorial(int a)
{
int n;
for(int i=a; i>1; i--)
{
n=n*i;
}
return n;
}

---

THanks so much!!:D