Recursive function that takes the sum of odd integers - c++

Question

The program runs but it also spews out some other stuff and I am not too sure why. The very first output is correct but from there I am not sure what happens. Here is my code:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
const int MAX = 10;
int sum(int arrayNum[], int n)
{
int total = 0;
if (n <= 0)
return 0;
else
for(int i = 0; i < MAX; i ++)
{
if(arrayNum[i] % 2 != 0)
total += arrayNum[i];
}
cout << "Sum of odd integers in the array: " << total << endl;
return arrayNum[0] + sum(arrayNum+1,n-1);
}
int main()
{
int x[MAX] = {13,14,8,7,45,89,22,18,6,10};
sum(x,MAX);
system("pause");
return 0;
}

Answer 1

The term recursion means (in the simplest variation) solving a problem by reducing it to a simpler version of the same problem until becomes trivial. In your example...
To compute the num of the odd values in an array of n elements we have these cases:
the array is empty: the result is trivially 0
the first element is even: the result will be the sum of odd elements of the rest of the array
the first element is odd: the result will be this element added to the sum of odd elements of the rest of the array
In this problem the trivial case is computing the result for an empty array and the simpler version of the problem is working on a smaller array. It is important to understand that the simpler version must be "closer" to a trivial case for recursion to work.
Once the algorithm is clear translation to code is simple:
// Returns the sums of all odd numbers in
// the sequence of n elements pointed by p
int oddSum(int *p, int n) {
if (n == 0) {
// case 1
return 0;
} else if (p[0] % 2 == 0) {
// case 2
return oddSum(p + 1, n - 1);
} else {
// case 3
return p[0] + oddSum(p + 1, n - 1);
}
}
Recursion is a powerful tool to know and you should try to understand this example until it's 100% clear how it works. Try starting rewriting it from scratch (I'm not saying you should memorize it, just try rewriting it once you read and you think you understood the solution) and then try to solve small variations of this problem.
No amount of reading can compensate for writing code.

Answer 2

You are passing updated n to recursive function as argument but not using it inside.
change MAX to n in this statement
for(int i = 0; i < n; i ++)

Answer 3

so this doesnt really answer your question but it should help.
So, your code is not really recursive. If we run through your function
int total = 0; //Start a tally, good.
if (n <= 0)
return 0; //Check that we are not violating the array, good.
else
for(int i = 0; i < MAX; i ++)
{
if(arrayNum[i] % 2 != 0) //THIS PART IS WIERD
total += arrayNum[i];
}
And the reason it is wierd is because you are solving the problem right there. That for loop will run through the list and add all the odd numbers up anyway.
What you are doing by recursing could be to do this:
What is the sum of odd numbers in:
13,14,8,7,45,89,22,18,6,10
+
14,8,7,45,89,22,18,6
+
8,7,45,89,22,18
+
7,45,89,22 ... etc
And if so then you only need to change:
for(int i = 0; i < MAX; i ++)
to
for(int i = 0; i < n; i ++)
But otherwise you really need to rethink your approach to this problem.

Answer 4

It's not recursion if you use a loop.
It's also generally a good idea to separate computation and output.
int sum(int arrayNum[], int n)
{
if (n <= 0) // Base case: the sum of an empty array is 0.
return 0;
// Recursive case: If the first number is odd, add it to the sum of the rest of the array.
// Otherwise just return the sum of the rest of the array.
if(arrayNum[0] % 2 != 0)
return arrayNum[0] + sum(arrayNum + 1, n - 1);
else
return sum(arrayNum + 1, n - 1);
}
int main()
{
int x[MAX] = {13,14,8,7,45,89,22,18,6,10};
cout << sum(x,MAX);
}