# SICP - Solution: Exercise 1.12

## Oct 3, 2018 21:06 · 264 words · 2 minute read

Exercise 1.12

The following pattern of numbers is called Pascal’s triangle.

         1
1   1
1   2   1
1   3   3   1
1   4   6   4   1
. . .


The numbers at the edge of the triangle are all 1, and each number inside the triangle is the sum of the two numbers above it. Write a procedure that computes elements of Pascal’s triangle by means of a recursive process.

Solution

The solution is easier to see if you change slightly the tabulation:

 1
1   1
1   2   1
1   3   3   1
1   4   6   4   1
. . .


From the definition, the function can be defined recursively:

(define (pascal row col)
(cond ((= row 1) 1)
((or (= col 1) (= col row)) 1)
(else (+ (pascal (- row 1)  (- col 1))
(pascal (- row 1) col)))))


Using this function, it is possible to write a couple more functions to display the triangle:

(define (display-pascal-row n)
(define (column-iter i)
(display (pascal n i)) (display "  ")
(if (= i n)
(newline)
(column-iter (+ i 1))))
(column-iter 1))

(define (display-pascal n)
(define (display-pascal-iter i)
(display-pascal-row i)
(if (= i n)
(newline)
(display-pascal-iter (+ i 1))))
(display-pascal-iter 1))


To check our solution, we can evaluate (display-pascal 10):

1
1  1
1  2  1
1  3  3  1
1  4  6  4  1
1  5  10  10  5  1
1  6  15  20  15  6  1
1  7  21  35  35  21  7  1
1  8  28  56  70  56  28  8  1
1  9  36  84  126  126  84  36  9  1