my @numbs = qw(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10);

# loop style
sub loop {

	my $numbs = shift;
	my $sum;

	map { $sum += $_; } @{$numbs};
	return $sum;
}

# recursive style - warning: destroys array
sub recurse {

	my ($numbs, $sum) = @_;

	if (scalar @{$numbs}) {
		$sum += pop @{$numbs};
		&recurse($numbs, $sum);
	}
	else {
		return $sum;
	}

}

##</code><code>##

Benchmark: timing 100000 iterations of Loop, Recursive...
     Loop:  1 wallclock secs ( 0.70 usr +  0.00 sys =  0.70 CPU)
Recursive:  1 wallclock secs ( 0.68 usr +  0.00 sys =  0.68 CPU)

##</code><code>##

Benchmark: timing 100000 iterations of Guass...
    Guass:  1 wallclock secs ( 0.49 usr +  0.00 sys =  0.49 CPU)