1> L = lists:seq(1,100000). [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22, 23,24,25,26,27,28,29|...] 2> Fun1 = fun (X) -> lists:member(X, L) end. #Fun<erl_eval.6.13229925> 3> Fun2 = fun (X) -> S = sets:from_list(L), sets:is_element(X, S) end. #Fun<erl_eval.6.13229925> 4> timer:tc(Fun1,50000). {3, {'EXIT',{undef,[{timer,tc,2}, {erl_eval,do_apply,5}, {shell,exprs,7}, {shell,eval_exprs,7}, {shell,eval_loop,3}]}}} 5> timer:tc(Fun1,[50000]). {175,true} 6> timer:tc(Fun2,[50000]). {518784,true} 7>