Convert normal recursion to tail recursion

Question

I was wondering if there is some general method to convert a \"normal\" recursion with foo(...) + foo(...) as the last call to a tail-recursion.

For exa

Answer 1

The accumulator approach

  def pascal(c: Int, r: Int): Int = {

    def pascalAcc(acc:Int, leftover: List[(Int, Int)]):Int = {
      if (leftover.isEmpty) acc
      else {
        val (c1, r1) = leftover.head
        // Edge.
        if (c1 == 0 || c1 == r1) pascalAcc(acc + 1, leftover.tail)
        // Safe checks.
        else if (c1 < 0 || r1 < 0 || c1 > r1) pascalAcc(acc, leftover.tail)
        // Add 2 other points to accumulator.
        else pascalAcc(acc, (c1 , r1 - 1) :: ((c1 - 1, r1 - 1) :: leftover.tail ))
      }
    }

    pascalAcc(0, List ((c,r) ))
  }

It does not overflow the stack but as on big row and column but Aaron mentioned it's not fast.