factorial of a number in pl/sql - oracle

Question

The following pl/sql program generates an error on execution on line the sum :=temp*sum; encountered symbol ; when expecting ( . Please explain my mistake.
declare
n number;
temp number;
sum number := 1;
begin
n := &n;
temp := n;
while temp>0 loop
sum := temp*sum;
temp := temp-1;
end loop;
dbms_output.put_line('Factorial of '||n||' is '||sum);
end;
/

Answer 1

Maybe not the answer to your question, but there is no need for PL/SQL here:
select round(exp(sum(ln(level))))
from dual
connect by level <= 5;
where 5 is your number (5!).
Additionally, if you like to operate faster in PL/SQL use pls_integer instead of number.
UPDATE
So according to comments I felt free to test:
create or replace package test_ is
function by_query(num number) return number deterministic;
function by_plsql(num number) return number deterministic;
end test_;
/
create or replace package body test_ is
function by_query(num number) return number deterministic
is
res number;
begin
select round(exp(sum(ln(level))))
into res
from dual
connect by level <= num;
return res;
end;
function by_plsql(num number) return number deterministic
is
n number := 0;
begin
for i in 1..num loop
n := n + ln(i);
end loop;
return round(exp(n));
end;
end test_;
So there are two functions with different content. Test query:
declare
dummy number;
begin
for i in 1..10000 loop
dummy := test_.by_query(5);
end loop;
end;
0.094 sec.
declare
dummy number;
begin
for i in 1..10000 loop
dummy := test_.by_plsql(5);
end loop;
end;
0.094 sec.
You'll say I am cheater and using deterministic keyword but here it is obvious and is needed by logic. If I remove it, the same scripts are working 1.7 sec vs 1.3 sec, so procedure is only a bit faster, there is no even double-win in performance. The totally opposite effect you will get if you use the function in a query so it is a fair trade.

Answer 2

Sum is reserved word in sql. Change variable name like
declare
n number;
temp number;
sum_ number := 1;
begin
n := &n;
temp := n;
while temp>0 loop
sum_ := temp*sum_;
temp := temp-1;
end loop;
dbms_output.put_line('Factorial of '||n||' is '||sum_);
end;
/

Answer 3

declare
n number;
i number;
sum_of_log_10s number;
exponent number;
base number;
begin
n := &n;
i := 1;
sum_of_log_10s := 0;
while i <= n loop
-- do stuff
sum_of_log_10s := sum_of_log_10s + log(10,i);
i := i + 1;
end loop;
dbms_output.put_line('sum of logs = '||sum_of_log_10s);
exponent := floor(sum_of_log_10s);
base := power(10,sum_of_log_10s - exponent);
dbms_output.put_line(n||'! = '||base||' x 10^'||exponent);
end;

Answer 4

I came up with this code that I like even better than #smnbbrv's answer. It's a great way to check the speed of a machine. I've been using a variation of this since my Atari 800
ALTER SESSION FORCE PARALLEL DDL PARALLEL 16;
ALTER SESSION FORCE PARALLEL DML PARALLEL 16;
ALTER SESSION FORCE PARALLEL QUERY PARALLEL 16;
with t as (
select /*+materialize*/
rownum i
from dual connect by rownum < 100000 -- put number to calculate n! here
)
,t1 as (
select /*+parallel(t,16)*/ /*+materialize*/
sum(log(10,i)) logsum
from t
)
select
trunc(power(10,(mod(logsum,1))),3) ||' x 10^'||trim(to_char(floor(logsum),'999,999,999,999')) factorial
-- logsum
from t1
;
-- returns 2.824 x 10^456,568

Answer 5

Here is the simple code for finding factorial of number at run time...
declare
-- it gives the final answer after computation
fac number :=1;
-- given number n
-- taking input from user
n number := &1;
-- start block
begin
-- start while loop
while n > 0 loop
-- multiple with n and decrease n's value
fac:=n*fac;
--dbms_output.put(n||'*');
n:=n-1;
end loop;
-- end loop
-- print result of fac
dbms_output.put_line(fac);
-- end the begin block
end;