The problem
This is problem 1 from the Project Euler.
If we list all the natural numbers below 10 that are multiples of 3 or 5, we get 3, 5, 6 and 9. The sum of these multiples is 23.
Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 or 5 below the provided parameter value number.
Let's begin
Initialise variables and common functions:
var test_number = 8456; // this number we wanna test
// this function execute the code and records the time to execute
function run_function(func) {
var t0 = performance.now();
console.log('Output:', func);
var t1 = performance.now();
console.log("Took " + (t1 - t0) + " milliseconds.");
}
Attempt #1: recursive functions
Personal challenge, I always enjoy stretching myself with recursive functions, so here is my take on this problem with a recursive function.
function multiplesOf3and5(number) {
number = number - 1;
var list_numbers = []
list_numbers = multiplesOfN(list_numbers, number, 3);
list_numbers = multiplesOfN(list_numbers, number, 5);
return list_numbers.reduce((a, b) => a + b, 0)
}
function multiplesOfN(list_numbers, number, n) {
if(number > 0 && number%n==0 && !list_numbers.includes(number)) {
list_numbers.push(number);
return multiplesOfN(list_numbers, number-n, n);
}else if(number > 0){
return multiplesOfN(list_numbers, number-1, n);
}else{
return list_numbers;
}
}
run_function(multiplesOf3and5(test_number));
The output:
Output: 16687353
Took 0.5999999993946403 milliseconds.
Hmmm, but if the test number is 19564, recursive functions will overflow:
RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
Attempt #2: for-loop
Go back to the good old for-loop:
var sum = 0;
function multiplesOf3and5_b(number) {
for(var i = 1; i < number; i++){
if((i % 3 === 0 )||(i % 5 === 0)){
sum = sum + i;
}
}
return sum;
}
run_function(multiplesOf3and5_b(test_number));
The output:
Output: 16687353
Took 0.045000000682193786 milliseconds.
Works great for test number 19564:
Output: 89301183
Took 0.6550000034621917 milliseconds.
The recursive method overflow at bigger test case and good old for-loop is more efficient. Can it be any better?
I just began my Project Euler Challenge journey; anyone wants to do this together? It will be fun and we can learn a thing or two by solving this problem in different ways.
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