feat(curriculum): Add basic recursion lesson (#36200)

Co-Authored-By: Randell Dawson <5313213+RandellDawson@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Manish Giri <manish.giri.me@gmail.com>

curriculum/challenges/_meta/basic-javascript/meta.json

@@ -404,6 +404,10 @@
       "5a2efd662fb457916e1fe604",
       "Iterate with JavaScript Do...While Loops"
     ],
+    [
+      "5cfa3679138e7d9595b9d9d4",
+      "Replace Loops using Recursion"
+    ],
     [
       "5688e62ea601b2482ff8422b",
       "Profile Lookup"
@@ -439,4 +443,4 @@
   ],
   "helpRoom": "HelpJavaScript",
   "fileName": "02-javascript-algorithms-and-data-structures/basic-javascript.json"
-}
+}

curriculum/challenges/english/02-javascript-algorithms-and-data-structures/basic-javascript/replace-loops-using-recursion.english.md

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+---
+id: 5cfa3679138e7d9595b9d9d4
+title: Replace Loops using Recursion
+challengeType: 1
+videoUrl: 'https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-recursion-works-explained-with-flowcharts-and-a-video-de61f40cb7f9/'
+---
+
+## Description
+<section id='description'>
+Recursion is the concept that a function can be expressed in terms of itself. To help understand this, start by thinking about the following task: multiply the first <code>n</code> elements in an array to create the product of the elements. Using a <code>for</code> loop, you could do this:
+
+```js
+  function multiply(arr, n) {
+    var product = arr[0];
+    for (var i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
+        product *= arr[i];
+    }
+    return product;
+  }
+```
+
+However, notice that <code>multiply(arr, n) == multiply(arr, n - 1) * arr[n]</code>. That means you can rewrite <code>multiply</code> in terms of itself and never need to use a loop.
+
+```js
+  function multiply(arr, n) {
+    if (n <= 0) {
+      return arr[0];
+    } else {
+      return multiply(arr, n - 1) * arr[n];
+    }
+  }
+```
+
+The recursive version of <code>multiply</code> breaks down like this. In the <dfn>base case</dfn>, where <code>n <= 0</code>, it returns the result, <code>arr[0]</code>. For larger values of <code>n</code>, it calls itself, but with <code>n - 1</code>. That function call is evaluated in the same way, calling <code>multiply</code> again until <code>n = 0</code>.  At this point, all the functions can return and the original <code>multiply</code> returns the answer.  
+
+<strong>Note:</strong> Recursive functions must have a base case when they return without calling the function again (in this example, when <code>n <= 0</code>), otherwise they can never finish executing.
+
+</section>
+
+## Instructions
+<section id='instructions'>
+
+Write a recursive function, <code>sum(arr, n)</code>, that creates the sum of the first <code>n</code> elements of an array <code>arr</code>.
+
+</section>
+
+## Tests
+<section id='tests'>
+
+``` yml
+tests:
+  - text: <code>sum([1], 0)</code> should equal 1.
+    testString: assert.equal(sum([1], 0), 1);
+  - text: <code>sum([2, 3, 4], 1)</code> should equal 5.
+    testString: assert.equal(sum([2, 3, 4], 1), 5);
+  - text: Your code should not rely on any kind of loops (<code>for</code> or <code>while</code> or higher order functions such as <code>forEach</code>, <code>map</code>, <code>filter</code>, or <code>reduce</code>.).
+    testString: assert(!removeJSComments(code).match(/for|while|forEach|map|filter|reduce/g));
+  - text: You should use recursion to solve this problem.
+    testString: assert(removeJSComments(sum.toString()).match(/sum\(.*\).*\{.*sum\(.*\).*\}/s));
+```
+
+</section>
+
+## Challenge Seed
+<section id='challengeSeed'>
+
+<div id='js-seed'>
+
+```js
+function sum(arr, n) {
+  // Only change code below this line
+
+  // Only change code above this line
+}
+
+```
+
+</div>
+
+### After Test
+<div id='js-teardown'>
+
+```js
+const removeJSComments = str => str.replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\/|\/\/.*$/gm, '');
+
+```
+
+</div>
+
+</section>
+
+## Solution
+<section id='solution'>
+
+```js
+function sum(arr, n) {
+  // Only change code below this line
+  if(n <= 0) {
+    return arr[0];
+  } else {
+    return sum(arr, n - 1) + arr[n];
+  }
+  // Only change code above this line
+}
+
+```
+
+</section>