# Is this a correct translation from recursive function to math notation?

I have this recursive function, written in Java. Assignment is to translate it to mathematical notation.

int dist(String w1, String w2, int w1len, int w2len) {
if (w1len == 0) return w2len;
if (w2len == 0) return w1len;
int res = dist(w1, w2, w1len - 1, w2len - 1) + (w1.charAt(w1len - 1) == w2.charAt(w2len - 1) ? 0 : 1);
int addLetter = dist(w1, w2, w1len - 1, w2len) + 1;
int deleteLetter = dist(w1, w2, w1len, w2len - 1) + 1;
if (deleteLetter < res)
res = deleteLetter;
return res;
}


My attempt, is this valid?

$del = f(u,v,m,n-1)+1\\add = f(u,v,m-1,n)+1\\res = f(u,v,m-1,n-1)$

$f(u,v,m,n)=\begin{cases} n & m=0\\ m & n=0\\ MIN(del,MIN(add,res)) & u_{m-1}=v_{n-1}\\ MIN(del,MIN(add,res+1)) & u_{m-1}\neq v_{n-1} \end{cases}$

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So, $u$ and $v$ are strings? In mathematics we probably would not consider $0$ to be a string, so $u=0$ would not occur. –  GEdgar Sep 20 '12 at 1:10
@GEdgar Oops, mixed up the variables. Yes $u$ and $v$ are strings, but they are never returned, only $m$ and $n$. I updated my question –  hamohl Sep 20 '12 at 1:13