Python recursion function parameters issue

I'm calling a function inside itself many times to solve the subset sum problem, using as it called, the recursion solution; anyway, I can't figure out why n (which is the number of elements of the array) value is getting decreasing at first, until it reach 0, which is I get it, but then, after calling it again within itself, it makes n value incremented. Why is that happening, as the whole function doesn't even have an increment contribution for the n value? Where n gets its increasing value from?

Here is the code:

def printAllSubsetsRec(arr, n, currentSubset, sum):
    # If remaining sum is 0, then print all
    # elements of current subset.

    if (sum == 0):
        i = 0
        sumOfValue = 0
        for value in currentSubset:
            i += 1
            sumOfValue += value
            if (i == len(currentSubset)):
                print(value, " = ", sumOfValue)
            else:
                print(value, end=" + ")
        return True

    # If there are no elements in the array and the sum is not equal to 0.
    if (n == 0 and sum != 0):
        return None


    # I consider two cases for every element:
    # a) Excluding last element.
    # b) Including last element in current subset.
    # -------------------------------------------------

    # Excluding the last element:
    printAllSubsetsRec(arr, n - 1, currentSubset, sum)

    v = [] + currentSubset
    v.append(arr[n - 1])

    # Including the last element:
    printAllSubsetsRec(arr, n - 1, v, sum - arr[n - 1])


#Main:
arr = [10, 7, 5, 18, 12, 20, 15]
sum = 35
n = len(arr)
currentSubset = []
printAllSubsetsRec(arr, n, currentSubset, sum)

The output should be:

18 + 7 + 10 = 35

12 + 18 + 5 = 35

20 + 5 + 10 = 35

15 + 20 = 35

Thanks in advance!

Recursion is a functional heritage and so using it with functional style yields the best results. This means avoiding things like mutation, variable reassignment, and other side effects -

• logical if without a corresponding else
• mutation and reassignment of i and sumOfValue
• side effects like print

Recursion doesn't have to be difficult or painful. Using functional disciplines we can write subsets(t,n) with inductive reasoning -

1. If the target sum n is zero, yield the empty solution
2. (inductive) otherwise n is negative or positive. If n is negative or the input array t is empty, we are out-of-bounds. stop iteration.
3. (inductive) n is positive and t has at least one element. For all s of the subproblem (t[1:],n-t[0]), prepend t[0] to s and yield. And yield all results of the subproblem (t[1:],n)

def subsets(t, n):
  if n == 0:
    yield ()                              #1
  elif n < 0 or not t:
    return                                #2
  else:
    for s in subsets(t[1:], n - t[0]):    #3
      yield (t[0], *s)
    yield from subsets(t[1:], n)

for s in subsets([10, 7, 5, 18, 12, 20, 15], 35):
  print(s)

(10, 7, 18)
(10, 5, 20)
(5, 18, 12)
(20, 15)

Notice -

• All operations do not mutate or reassign variables
• Side effects like print are traded for yield
• Caller is free to utilize and transform the results any way desired

To format the results as an mathematical expression -

for s in subsets([10, 7, 5, 18, 12, 20, 15], 35):
  print(" + ".join(map(str, s)), "=", 35)

10 + 7 + 18 = 35
10 + 5 + 20 = 35
5 + 18 + 12 = 35
20 + 15 = 35

To collect all outputs of a generator into a list, use list -

print(list(subsets([10, 7, 5, 18, 12, 20, 15], 35)))

[(10, 7, 18), (10, 5, 20), (5, 18, 12), (20, 15)]