SICP Exercise 1.9

Exercise 1.9.  Each of the following two procedures defines a method for adding two positive integers in terms of the procedures inc, which increments its argument by 1, and dec, which decrements its argument by 1.


(define (+ a b)
  (if (= a 0)
      b
      (inc (+ (dec a) b))))

(define (+ a b)
  (if (= a 0)
      b
      (+ (dec a) (inc b))))

Using the substitution model, illustrate the process generated by each procedure in evaluating (+ 4 5). Are these processes iterative or recursive?

SOLUTION


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