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Auxiliary Space with Recursive Functions

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Prerequisite: Recursion
Memory used by a program is sometimes as important as running time, particularly in constrained environments such as mobile devices. 
For example if we need to create an array of size n, it will require O(n) space. If we need a two-dimensional array of size n x n , it will require O(n2). 
Stack space in recursive calls counts too as extra space required by a program. 
For example : 
 

C++




int sum(int n)
{
   if (n <= 0)
       return 0;
   return n + sum(n-1);
}

Java




static int sum(int n)
{
   if (n <= 0)
       return 0;
   return n + sum(n - 1);
}
 
// This code is contributed by Pratham76

Python3




def sum(n):
    if (n <= 0):
        return 0;
    return n + sum(n - 1);
 
 
# This code is contributed by Rajput-Ji

C#




static int sum(int n)
{
   if (n <= 0)
       return 0;
   return n + sum(n - 1);
}
 
// This code is contributed by rutvik_56

Javascript




<script>
 
function sum(n)
{
   if (n <= 0)
       return 0;
   return n + sum(n - 1);
}
 
</script>

In the above example function, each call adds a new level to the stack. 
 

     Sum(5)
    ->sum(4)
            ->sum(3)
            ->sum(2)
                ->sum(1)
                       ->sum(0)

Each of these calls is added to the call stack and takes up actual memory. So code like this would take O(n) time and O(n) auxiliary space. 
However, just because you have n calls total doesn’t mean it takes O(n) space. Consider the below functions, which adds adjacent elements between 0 and n : 
Example: 
 

CPP




// A non-recursive code that makes n calls
// but takes O(1) extra space.
int pairSumSequence(int n)
{
    int sum = 0;
    for (int i=0; i<n; i++)
        sum += pairSum(i, i+1);
    return sum;
}
 
int pairSum(int a, int b)
{
    return a + b ;
}

Java




// A non-recursive code that makes n calls
// but takes O(1) extra space.
static int pairSumSequence(int n)
{
    int sum = 0;
    for (int i=0; i<n; i++)
        sum += pairSum(i, i+1);
    return sum;
}
 
static int pairSum(int a, int b)
{
    return a + b ;
}
 
// This code is contributed by Pushpesh Raj.

Python3




# A non-recursive code that makes n calls
# but takes O(1) extra space.
def pairSumSequence(n):
    sum = 0
    for i in range(n):
        sum += pairSum(i, i + 1)
    return sum
 
def pairSum(a, b):
    return a + b
     
# This code is contributed by Aman Kumar

C#




// A non-recursive code that makes n calls
// but takes O(1) extra space.
static int pairSumSequence(int n)
{
    int sum = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        sum += pairSum(i, i+1);
    return sum;
}
  
static int pairSum(int a, int b)
{
    return a + b ;
}
  
// This code is contributed by Utkarsh

In this example there will be roughly O(n) calls to pairSum. However, those calls do not exist simultaneously on the call stack, so we need only O(1) space. 
This article is contributed by Ranju Kumari. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using write.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to review-team@geeksforgeeks.org. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks.
Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above.
 


Last Updated : 23 Jan, 2023
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