Finding all possible combinations of numbers to reach a given sum

Question

How would you go about testing all possible combinations of additions from a given set N of numbers so they add up to a given final number?

A brief exam

Answer 1

Here's a solution in R

subset_sum = function(numbers,target,partial=0){
  if(any(is.na(partial))) return()
  s = sum(partial)
  if(s == target) print(sprintf("sum(%s)=%s",paste(partial[-1],collapse="+"),target))
  if(s > target) return()
  for( i in seq_along(numbers)){
    n = numbers[i]
    remaining = numbers[(i+1):length(numbers)]
    subset_sum(remaining,target,c(partial,n))
  }
}