Pascal recursive summation function school practice problem - recursion

Question

This function is a school practice problem (it is running but does not work properly).
My task is to call for a integer from the user.
When the number arrives, my task is to write out (with a recursive algorithm)
what is the sum of the number with the numbers before the given number.
For example if our number is 10 then the upshot is 55 because 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10 = 55, etc.
I've already tried to write this code:
function egesszamosszeg(n:integer) : integer;
begin
egesszamosszeg:=0
if n=1 then
egesszamosszeg:=1
else
for n:=1 to egesszamosszeg do
begin
egesszamosszeg:=egesszamosszeg+1;
end;
end;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var egesszam:integer;
begin
egesszam:=strtoint(Inputbox('','Give an integer please!',''));
Showmessage(inttostr(Egesszamosszeg(egesszam)));
end;
My problem is that I do not know what is the main problem with this code.

Answer 1

I do not know what is the main problem with this code.
There are several problems with your code: it's iterative, not recursive; it's way too complicated; this loop:
for n:=1 to egesszamosszeg do
is effectively:
for n:=1 to 0 do
Consider this simple function which effectively implements the gist of your problem:
function egesszamosszeg(n:integer) : integer;
begin
egesszamosszeg := n;
if (n > 1) then
egesszamosszeg := egesszamosszeg + egesszamosszeg(n - 1);
end;
begin
writeln(egesszamosszeg(10));
end.

Answer 2

You are simply trying to increment egesszamosszeg (couldn't you use an easier name?), instead of adding the consecutive numbers to it. But your loop is wrong: eggesszamosszeg is 0, so you are in fact doing for n := 1 to 0 do. That loop will never run. Don't re-use n, use another variable for the loop index:
for i := 1 to n do
egesszamosszeg := egesszamosszeg + i;
But you say it must be recursive, so it must call itself with a different parameter value. Then do something like:
function egesszamosszeg(n: integer): integer;
begin
if n = 1 then // terminating condition
egesszamosszeg := 1
else
egesszamosszeg := n + egesszamosszeg(n - 1); // recursion
end;
In most Pascals, you can use the pseudo-variable Result instead of the function name. Often, that makes typing a little easier.
FWIW, did you know that you could make this a little simpler and do not need recursion or iteration at all? The result can be calculated directly:
function egesszamosszeg(n: Integer): Integer;
begin
result := n * (n + 1) div 2;
end;
For 1..10, that will give 10 * 11 div 2 = 55 too.
See: https://www.wikihow.com/Sum-the-Integers-from-1-to-N
In effect, you count (1+10) + (2+9) + (3+8) + (4+7) + (5+6) = 5 * 11 = 55. You can do the same for any positive number. Same with 1..6: (1+6) + (2+5) + (3+4) = 3 * 7 = 21.
That leads to the formula:
sum = n * (n + 1) div 2
(or actually:
n div 2 * (n+1) // mathematically: n/2 * (n+1)
which is the same).