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Recursion was the concept that ideas and concepts, as Nyssa put it, "fold back on themselves". Trying to come to grips with the concept, Tegan surmised that "if we had an index file we could look it up in the index file under 'index file'".
File:Recursion ploy - Doctor Who Castrovalva - BBC
Recursion explained. (TV: Castrovalva)
Later, the Fifth Doctor called this exchange with Mergrave a "perfect example of recursion":
- Doctor: How do I know you're telling the truth?
- Mergrave: Because, sir, I maintain that I am. And I am a man of my word.
The Doctor later realised that Castrovalva itself was — as a mathematical construct of the Tremas Master — inherently recursive. The Master intended to trap the Doctor there as the recursion folded in on itself and the reality collapsed. (TV: Castrovalva)
For more information on the concept of Recursion, please see here.