algorithm to sum up a list of numbers for all combinations

Question

I have a list of numbers and I want to add up all the different combinations. For example:

• number as 1,4,7 and 13
• the output would be:

Answer 1

Here is a simple recursive Ruby implementation:

a = [1, 4, 7, 13]

def add(current, ary, idx, sum)
    (idx...ary.length).each do |i|
        add(current + [ary[i]], ary, i+1, sum + ary[i])
    end
    puts "#{current.join('+')} = #{sum}" if current.size > 1
end    
add([], a, 0, 0)

Which prints

1+4+7+13 = 25
1+4+7 = 12
1+4+13 = 18
1+4 = 5
1+7+13 = 21
1+7 = 8
1+13 = 14
4+7+13 = 24
4+7 = 11
4+13 = 17
7+13 = 20

If you do not need to print the array at each step, the code can be made even simpler and much faster because no additional arrays are created:

def add(ary, idx, sum)
    (idx...ary.length).each do |i|
        add(ary, i+1, sum + ary[i])
    end
    puts sum
end
add(a, 0, 0)

I dont think you can have it much simpler than that.