Calculate the factorial of 5

A very important mathematical operation is the calculation of the factorial of a positive integer n. In general, the factorial operation is used in many areas of mathematics, notably in combinatorics, algebra, and mathematical analysis.

The factorial of n is defined by the product of all positive integers less than or equal to n. For example, the factorial of 3 (denoted by n!) is defined as:

3! = 1 x 2 x 3 = 6

To calculate the factorial of n, many different solutions exist. In this exercise, you will determine the factorial of 5 iteratively with SQL.

Remember the syntax of a WHILE loop in SQL:

WHILE condition
BEGIN
   {...statements...}
END;

More information on WHILE can be found in the documentation.

Set the @target factorial, which will also serve as the termination condition, to 5.
Initialize the @factorial result.
Calculate the @factorial number by taking the product of the factorial result so far and the current iteration.
Reduce the termination condition by 1 at the end of the iteration.

Exercise

Calculate the factorial of 5

Instructions