my @fib4_cache; sub fib4 { my $n = shift; return $fib4_cache[$n] //= do { $n < 2 ? $n : fib4($n-1) + fib4($n-2) }; } __END__ C:\test>memofib.pl Rate fib1 fib2 fib3 fib4 fib1 88.7/s -- -100% -100% -100% fib2 219835/s 247838% -- -89% -91% fib3 2073455/s 2338415% 843% -- -19% fib4 2551114/s 2877136% 1060% 23% -- #### cmpthese(-1, { fib1 => q{ fib1 20 }, fib2 => q{ fib2 20 }, fib3 => q{ fib3 20 }, fib4 => q{ fib4 20 }, }); __END__ C:\test>memofib.pl Rate fib1 fib2 fib3 fib4 fib1 87.4/s -- -100% -100% -100% fib2 223254/s 255377% -- -89% -91% fib3 2071504/s 2370384% 828% -- -20% fib4 2579867/s 2952119% 1056% 25% -- #### my @fib5_cache; sub fib5 { my $n = shift; return $fib5_cache[ $n ] //= do { $n < 2 ? $n : ( $fib5_cache[ $n-1 ] //= fib5($n-1) ) + ( $fib5_cache[ $n-2 ] //= fib5($n-2) ) ## corrected; thanks to moriitz }; } __END__ C:\test>memofib.pl Rate fib1 fib2 fib3 fib4 fib5 fib1 89.0/s -- -100% -100% -100% -100% fib2 218452/s 245352% -- -89% -91% -91% fib3 2022174/s 2272005% 826% -- -18% -20% fib4 2478824/s 2785096% 1035% 23% -- -2% fib5 2537045/s 2850512% 1061% 25% 2% --