Kotlin Tail-Recursive Function: Sum of numbers from 1 to n

Last update on December 20 2024 13:11:32 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Write a Kotlin tail-recursive function to calculate the sum of all numbers from 1 to n.

Sample Solution:

Kotlin Code:

tailrec fun sumNumbers(n: Int, currentSum: Int = 0): Int {
    if (n == 0) {
        return currentSum
    }
    
    return sumNumbers(n - 1, currentSum + n)
}
 
fun main() {
    val n = 7
    val sum = sumNumbers(n)
    println("Sum of numbers from 1 to $n: $sum")
}

Sample Output:

Sum of numbers from 1 to 7: 28

Explanation:

In the above exercise -

• The "sumNumbers()" function takes two parameters: n, which represents the number up to which we want to calculate the sum, and currentSum, which keeps track of the running sum.
• In the base case, if n becomes 0, it means we have reached the end and return the current sum.
• In each recursive call, we decrement n by 1 and add it to the current sum (currentSum + n).
• We use tail recursion by making the recursive call directly without additional computation.
• The recursive calls continue until the base case is reached and the final sum is computed.

Kotlin Editor:

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