Why is sum so much faster than inject(:+)?

ruby

Solution

Short answer

For an integer range :

- `Enumerable#sum` returns `(range.max-range.min+1)*(range.max+range.min)/2`

- `Enumerable#inject(:+)` iterates over every element.

Theory

The sum of integers between 1 and `n` is called a triangular number, and is equal to `n*(n+1)/2`.

The sum of integers between `n` and `m` is the triangular number of `m` minus the triangular number of `n-1`, which is equal to `m*(m+1)/2-n*(n-1)/2`, and can be written `(m-n+1)*(m+n)/2`.

Enumerable#sum in Ruby 2.4

This property in used in `Enumerable#sum` for integer ranges :

if (RTEST(rb_range_values(obj, &beg, &end, &excl))) {
    if (!memo.block_given && !memo.float_value &&
            (FIXNUM_P(beg) || RB_TYPE_P(beg, T_BIGNUM)) &&
            (FIXNUM_P(end) || RB_TYPE_P(end, T_BIGNUM))) { 
        return int_range_sum(beg, end, excl, memo.v);
    } 
}

`int_range_sum` looks like this :

VALUE a;
a = rb_int_plus(rb_int_minus(end, beg), LONG2FIX(1));
a = rb_int_mul(a, rb_int_plus(end, beg));
a = rb_int_idiv(a, LONG2FIX(2));
return rb_int_plus(init, a);

which is equivalent to:

(range.max-range.min+1)*(range.max+range.min)/2

the aforementioned equality!

Complexity

Thanks a lot to @k_g and @Hynek-Pichi-Vychodil for this part!

sum

`(1...1000000000000000000000000000000).sum` requires three additions, a multiplication, a substraction and a division.

It's a constant number of operations, but multiplication is O((log n)²), so `Enumerable#sum` is O((log n)²) for an integer range.

inject

`(1...1000000000000000000000000000000).inject(:+)`

requires 999999999999999999999999999998 additions!

Addition is O(log n), so `Enumerable#inject` is O(n log n).

With `1E30` as input, `inject` with never return. The sun will explode long before!

Test

It's easy to check if Ruby Integers are being added :

module AdditionInspector
  def +(b)
    puts "Calculating #{self}+#{b}"
    super
  end
end

class Integer
  prepend AdditionInspector
end

puts (1..5).sum
#=> 15

puts (1..5).inject(:+)
# Calculating 1+2
# Calculating 3+3
# Calculating 6+4
# Calculating 10+5
#=> 15

Indeed, from `enum.c` comments :

`Enumerable#sum` method may not respect method redefinition of `"+"` methods such as `Integer#+`.

Problem

So I was running some benchmarks in Ruby 2.4.0 and realized that ``` (1...1000000000000000000000000000000).sum ``` calculates immediately whereas ``` (1...1000000000000000000000000000000).inject(:+) ``` takes so long that I just aborted the operation. I was under the impression that `Range#sum` was an alias for `Range#inject(:+)` but it seems like that is not true. So how does `sum` work, and why is it so much faster than `inject(:+)`? N.B. The documentation for `Enumerable#sum` (which is implemented by `Range`) does not say anything about lazy evaluation or anything along those lines.

Original source