Related
Please when answering this question try to be as general as possible to help the wider community, rather than just specifically helping my issue (although helping my issue would be great too ;) )
I seem to be encountering this problem time and time again with the simple problems on Project Euler. Most commonly are the problems that require a computation of the prime numbers - these without fail always fail to terminate for numbers greater than about 60,000.
My most recent issue is with Problem 12:
The sequence of triangle numbers is generated by adding the natural numbers. So the 7th triangle number would be 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 28. The first ten terms would be:
1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, ...
Let us list the factors of the first seven triangle numbers:
1: 1
3: 1,3
6: 1,2,3,6
10: 1,2,5,10
15: 1,3,5,15
21: 1,3,7,21
28: 1,2,4,7,14,28
We can see that 28 is the first triangle number to have over five divisors.
What is the value of the first triangle number to have over five hundred divisors?
Here is my code:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int numberOfDivisors = 500;
//I begin by looping from 1, with 1 being the 1st triangular number, 2 being the second, and so on.
for (long long int i = 1;; i++) {
long long int triangularNumber = (pow(i, 2) + i)/2
//Once I have the i-th triangular, I loop from 1 to itself, and add 1 to count each time I encounter a divisor, giving the total number of divisors for each triangular.
int count = 0;
for (long long int j = 1; j <= triangularNumber; j++) {
if (triangularNumber%j == 0) {
count++;
}
}
//If the number of divisors is 500, print out the triangular and break the code.
if (count == numberOfDivisors) {
cout << triangularNumber << endl;
break;
}
}
}
This code gives the correct answers for smaller numbers, and then either fails to terminate or takes an age to do so!
So firstly, what can I do with this specific problem to make my code more efficient?
Secondly, what are some general tips both for myself and other new C++ users for making code more efficient? (I.e. applying what we learn here in the future.)
Thanks!
The key problem is that your end condition is bad. You are supposed to stop when count > 500, but you look for an exact match of count == 500, therefore you are likely to blow past the correct answer without detecting it, and keep going ... maybe forever.
If you fix that, you can post it to code review. They might say something like this:
Break it down into separate functions for finding the next triangle number, and counting the factors of some number.
When you find the next triangle number, you execute pow. I perform a single addition.
For counting the number of factors in a number, a google search might help. (e.g. http://www.cut-the-knot.org/blue/NumberOfFactors.shtml ) You can build a list of prime numbers as you go, and use that to quickly find a prime factorization, from which you can compute the number of factors without actually counting them. When the numbers get big, that loop gets big.
Tldr: 76576500.
About your Euler problem, some math:
Preliminary 1:
Let's call the n-th triangle number T(n).
T(n) = 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + n = (n^2 + n)/2 (sometimes attributed to Gauss, sometimes someone else). It's not hard to figure it out:
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10 =
(1+10) + (2+9) + (3+8) + (4+7) + (5+6) =
11 + 11 + 11 + 11 + 11 =
55 =
110 / 2 =
(10*10 + 10)/2
Because of its definition, it's trivial that T(n) + n + 1 = T(n+1), and that with a<b, T(a)<T(b) is true too.
Preliminary 2:
Let's call the divisor count D. D(1)=1, D(4)=3 (because 1 2 4).
For a n with c non-repeating prime factors (not just any divisors, but prime factors, eg. n = 42 = 2 * 3 * 7 has c = 3), D(n) is c^2: For each factor, there are two possibilites (use it or not). The 9 possibile divisors for the examples are: 1, 2, 3, 7, 6 (2*3), 14 (2*7), 21 (3*7), 42 (2*3*7).
More generally with repeating, the solution for D(n) is multiplying (Power+1) together. Example 126 = 2^1 * 3^2 * 7^1: Because it has two 3, the question is no "use 3 or not", but "use it 1 time, 2 times or not" (if one time, the "first" or "second" 3 doesn't change the result). With the powers 1 2 1, D(126) is 2*3*2=12.
Preliminary 3:
A number n and n+1 can't have any common prime factor x other than 1 (technically, 1 isn't a prime, but whatever). Because if both n/x and (n+1)/x are natural numbers, (n+1)/x - n/x has to be too, but that is 1/x.
Back to Gauss: If we know the prime factors for a certain n and n+1 (needed to calculate D(n) and D(n+1)), calculating D(T(n)) is easy. T(N) = (n^2 + n) / 2 = n * (n+1) / 2. As n and n+1 don't have common prime factors, just throwing together all factors and removing one 2 because of the "/2" is enough. Example: n is 7, factors 7 = 7^1, and n+1 = 8 = 2^3. Together it's 2^3 * 7^1, removing one 2 is 2^2 * 7^1. Powers are 2 1, D(T(7)) = 3*2 = 6. To check, T(7) = 28 = 2^2 * 7^1, the 6 possible divisors are 1 2 4 7 14 28.
What the program could do now: Loop through all n from 1 to something, always factorize n and n+1, use this to get the divisor count of the n-th triangle number, and check if it is >500.
There's just the tiny problem that there are no efficient algorithms for prime factorization. But for somewhat small numbers, todays computers are still fast enough, and keeping all found factorizations from 1 to n helps too for finding the next one (for n+1). Potential problem 2 are too large numbers for longlong, but again, this is no problem here (as can be found out with trying).
With the described process and the program below, I got
the 12375th triangle number is 76576500 and has 576 divisors
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <cstdint>
using namespace std;
const int limit = 500;
vector<uint64_t> knownPrimes; //2 3 5 7...
//eg. [14] is 1 0 0 1 ... because 14 = 2^1 * 3^0 * 5^0 * 7^1
vector<vector<uint32_t>> knownFactorizations;
void init()
{
knownPrimes.push_back(2);
knownFactorizations.push_back(vector<uint32_t>(1, 0)); //factors for 0 (dummy)
knownFactorizations.push_back(vector<uint32_t>(1, 0)); //factors for 1 (dummy)
knownFactorizations.push_back(vector<uint32_t>(1, 1)); //factors for 2
}
void addAnotherFactorization()
{
uint64_t number = knownFactorizations.size();
size_t len = knownPrimes.size();
for(size_t i = 0; i < len; i++)
{
if(!(number % knownPrimes[i]))
{
//dividing with a prime gets a already factorized number
knownFactorizations.push_back(knownFactorizations[number / knownPrimes[i]]);
knownFactorizations[number][i]++;
return;
}
}
//if this failed, number is a newly found prime
//because a) it has no known prime factors, so it must have others
//and b) if it is not a prime itself, then it's factors should've been
//found already (because they are smaller than the number itself)
knownPrimes.push_back(number);
len = knownFactorizations.size();
for(size_t s = 0; s < len; s++)
{
knownFactorizations[s].push_back(0);
}
knownFactorizations.push_back(knownFactorizations[0]);
knownFactorizations[number][knownPrimes.size() - 1]++;
}
uint64_t calculateDivisorCountOfN(uint64_t number)
{
//factors for number must be known
uint64_t res = 1;
size_t len = knownFactorizations[number].size();
for(size_t s = 0; s < len; s++)
{
if(knownFactorizations[number][s])
{
res *= (knownFactorizations[number][s] + 1);
}
}
return res;
}
uint64_t calculateDivisorCountOfTN(uint64_t number)
{
//factors for number and number+1 must be known
uint64_t res = 1;
size_t len = knownFactorizations[number].size();
vector<uint32_t> tmp(len, 0);
size_t s;
for(s = 0; s < len; s++)
{
tmp[s] = knownFactorizations[number][s]
+ knownFactorizations[number+1][s];
}
//remove /2
tmp[0]--;
for(s = 0; s < len; s++)
{
if(tmp[s])
{
res *= (tmp[s] + 1);
}
}
return res;
}
int main()
{
init();
uint64_t number = knownFactorizations.size() - 2;
uint64_t DTn = 0;
while(DTn <= limit)
{
number++;
addAnotherFactorization();
DTn = calculateDivisorCountOfTN(number);
}
uint64_t tn;
if(number % 2) tn = ((number+1)/2)*number;
else tn = (number/2)*(number+1);
cout << "the " << number << "th triangle number is "
<< tn << " and has " << DTn << " divisors" << endl;
return 0;
}
About your general question about speed:
1) Algorithms.
How to know them? For (relatively) simple problems, either reading a book/Wikipedia/etc. or figuring it out if you can. For harder stuff, learning more basic things and gaining experience is necessary before it's even possible to understand them, eg. studying CS and/or maths ... number theory helps a lot for your Euler problem. (It will help less to understand how a MP3 file is compressed ... there are many areas, it's not possible to know everything.).
2a) Automated compiler optimizations of frequently used code parts / patterns
2b) Manual timing what program parts are the slowest, and (when not replacing it with another algorithm) changing it in a way that eg. requires less data send to slow devices (HDD, hetwork...), less RAM memory access, less CPU cycles, works better together with OS scheduler and memory management strategies, uses the CPU pipeline/caches better etc.etc. ... this is both education and experience (and a big topic).
And because long variables have a limited size, sometimes it is necessary to use custom types that use eg. a byte array to store a single digit in each byte. That way, it's possible to use the whole RAM for a single number if you want to, but the downside is you/someone has to reimplement stuff like addition and so on for this kind of number storage. (Of course, libs for that exist already, without writing everything from scratch).
Btw., pow is a floating point function and may get you inaccurate results. It's not appropriate to use it in this case.
For example:
5 = 1+1+1+1+1
5 = 1+1+1+2
5 = 1+1+2+1
5 = 1+2+1+1
5 = 2+1+1+1
5 = 1+2+2
5 = 2+2+1
5 = 2+1+2
Can anyone give a hint for a pseudo code on how this can be done please.
Honestly have no clue how to even start.
Also this looks like an exponential problem can it be done in linear time?
Thank you.
In the example you have provided order of addends is important. (See the last two lines in your example). With this in mind, the answer seems to be related to Fibonacci numbers. Let's F(n) be the ways n can be written as 1s and 2s. Then the last addened is either 1 or 2. So F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2). These are the initial values:
F(1) = 1 (1 = 1)
F(2) = 2 (2 = 1 + 1, 2 = 2)
This is actually the (n+1)th Fibonacci number. Here's why:
Let's call f(n) the number of ways to represent n. If you have n, then you can represent it as (n-1)+1 or (n-2)+2. Thus the ways to represent it are the number of ways to represent it is f(n-1) + f(n-2). This is the same recurrence as the Fibonacci numbers. Furthermore, we see if n=1 then we have 1 way, and if n=2 then we have 2 ways. Thus the (n+1)th Fibonacci number is your answer. There are algorithms out there to compute enormous Fibonacci numbers very quickly.
Permutations
If we want to know how many possible orderings there are in some set of size n without repetition (i.e., elements selected are removed from the available pool), the factorial of n (or n!) gives the answer:
double factorial(int n)
{
if (n <= 0)
return 1;
else
return n * factorial(n - 1);
}
Note: This also has an iterative solution and can even be approximated using the gamma function:
std::round(std::tgamma(n + 1)); // where n >= 0
The problem set starts with all 1s. Each time the set changes, two 1s are replaced by one 2. We want to find the number of ways k items (the 2s) can be arranged in a set of size n. We can query the number of possible permutations by computing:
double permutation(int n, int k)
{
return factorial(n) / factorial(n - k);
}
However, this is not quite the result we want. The problem is, permutations consider ordering, e.g., the sequence 2,2,2 would count as six distinct variations.
Combinations
These are essentially permutations which ignore ordering. Since the order no longer matters, many permutations are redundant. Redundancy per permutation can be found by computing k!. Dividing the number of permutations by this value gives the number of combinations:
Note: This is known as the binomial coefficient and should be read as "n choose k."
double combination(int n, int k)
{
return permutation(n, k) / factorial(k);
}
int solve(int n)
{
double result = 0;
if (n > 0) {
for ( int k = 0; k <= n; k += 1, n -= 1 )
result += combination(n, k);
}
return std::round(result);
}
This is a general solution. For example, if the problem were instead to find the number of ways an integer can be represented as a sum of 1s and 3s, we would only need to adjust the decrement of the set size (n-2) at each iteration.
Fibonacci numbers
The reason the solution using Fibonacci numbers works, has to do with their relation to the binomial coefficients. The binomial coefficients can be arranged to form Pascal's triangle, which when stored as a lower-triangular matrix, can be accessed using n and k as row/column indices to locate the element equal to combination(n,k).
The pattern of n and k as they change over the lifetime of solve, plot a diagonal when viewed as coordinates on a 2-D grid. The result of summing values along a diagonal of Pascal's triangle is a Fibonacci number. If the pattern changes (e.g., when finding sums of 1s and 3s), this will no longer be the case and this solution will fail.
Interestingly, Fibonacci numbers can be computed in constant time. Which means we can solve this problem in constant time simply by finding the (n+1)th Fibonacci number.
int fibonacci(int n)
{
constexpr double SQRT_5 = std::sqrt(5.0);
constexpr double GOLDEN_RATIO = (SQRT_5 + 1.0) / 2.0;
return std::round(std::pow(GOLDEN_RATIO, n) / SQRT_5);
}
int solve(int n)
{
if (n > 0)
return fibonacci(n + 1);
return 0;
}
As a final note, the numbers generated by both the factorial and fibonacci functions can be extremely large. Therefore, a large-maths library may be needed if n will be large.
Here is the code using backtracking which solves your problem. At each step, while remembering the numbers used to get the sum so far(using vectors here), first make a copy of them, first subtract 1 from n and add it to the copy then recur with n-1 and the copy of the vector with 1 added to it and print when n==0. then return and repeat the same for 2, which essentially is backtracking.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int n;
void print(vector<int> vect){
cout << n <<" = ";
for(int i=0;i<vect.size(); ++i){
if(i>0)
cout <<"+" <<vect[i];
else cout << vect[i];
}
cout << endl;
}
void gen(int n, vector<int> vect){
if(!n)
print(vect);
else{
for(int i=1;i<=2;++i){
if(n-i>=0){
std::vector<int> vect2(vect);
vect2.push_back(i);
gen(n-i,vect2);
}
}
}
}
int main(){
scanf("%d",&n);
vector<int> vect;
gen(n,vect);
}
This problem can be easily visualized as follows:
Consider a frog, that is present in front of a stairway. It needs to reach the n-th stair, but he can only jump 1 or 2 steps on the stairway at a time. Find the number of ways in which he can reach the n-th stair?
Let T(n) denote the number of ways to reach the n-th stair.
So, T(1) = 1 and T(2) = 2(2 one-step jumps or 1 two-step jump, so 2 ways)
In order to reach the n-th stair, we already know the number of ways to reach the (n-1)th stair and the (n-2)th stair.
So, once can simple reach the n-th stair by a 1-step jump from (n-1)th stair or a 2-step jump from (n-2)th step...
Hence, T(n) = T(n-1) + T(n-2)
Hope it helps!!!
I am trying to solve one problem from on-line judging system. I have a solution which works, but not efficient enough. Here is the problem:
Which the least number n can we imagine in product n = a∙b like k ways? Products a∙b and b∙a is one of the way, where all numbers is natural (1≤ k ≤50).
Input One number k.
Output One number n.
My code did not pass four tests. It is too slow for k=31, 37, 47. I have been thinking on this problem 2 days,but no improvement. Here is my code, please share, if you have any ideas.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<math.h>
int prime[10000];
long x,j,i,flag,k,length,p,checker,count,number;
int main()
{
prime[0]=2;
scanf("%ld",&k);
//I find prime numbers between 1 and 1000. 1000 can be changed, just for testing
for (i=3;i<=1000;i=i+2)
{
flag=0;
for (j=2;j<=sqrt(i);j++)
{
if(i%j==0)
{
flag=1;
break;
}
}
if(flag==0)
{
x++;
prime[x]=i;
}
}
length=x;
//this loop is too big I know, again for testing. I suspect, there must be a way to make some changes to this for loop
for (i=1;i<10000000000;i++)
{
number=i;
p=1;
for(x=0;x<=length;x++)
{
if(prime[x]>sqrt(i))
break;
count=0;
while(number%prime[x]==0)
{
number=number/prime[x];
count++;
}
p=p*(count+1);
//I find prime factors of numbers and their powers, then calculate number of divisors
}
//printf("%d\n",p);
//number of ways is just number of divisors/2 or floor (divisors/2)+1
if(p%2==0)
checker=p/2;
else
checker=floor(p/2)+1;
if(checker==k)
{
printf("%ld\n",i);
break;
}
}
return 0;
}
If I understand the problem correctly it's asking you which is the least number n with exactly 2k divisors (should I consider 1 and n?)
in fact if a number has a divisor a, then n / a = b is an integer and n = a* b (counting only one time a and b, so you should divide by two the number of divisors)
edit
Doing that is time consuming indeed. So this is the idea;
for a number n in the form n = p1^(a1)*p2^(a2)...pn^(an) (this is the prime factorization of the number) the number of divisor is (a1 + 1)(a2+1)...(an+1)
Hence, if you want to find a number that has k divisor, factorize k. then assign the biggest factor to the smallest prime; eg if k = 2*5*7, then n should be 2^7*3^5*5^2
I know it is not since i didnt take into account that (a, b) is equal to (b, a) but play around it a little and it should work
example
take k = 37. Then double the number - (to consider the symmetry). You get 74.
Now, if you can imagine n as n = n * 1, then you just need to factor 74 (that is 2 * 37);
then give 36 to 2 and 1 to 3, leading n = 2^(36)*3 = 206158430208
if you can't, then you need to add 1 to the number you got previously (in this case, 74 + 1 = 75 = 25*3); this way you get n = 2^24 * 3^2 = 150994944
If it's none of the above, then I am probably wrong...
I'm looking for some pointers about a dynamic programming problem. I cannot find any relevant information about how to solve this kind of problem.
Problem
A number is called a special number if it doesn't contain 3 consecutive
zeroes. i have to calculate the number of positive integers of exactly d digits
that are special answer should be modulo 1000000007(just for overflow in c++).
Problem can easily solved by permutation and combination but i want it with dynamic programming.
I am unable to find its optimal substructure or bottom to top approach.
Let f(d,x) be the amount of most significant d digits whose last x digits are zeros, where 0 ≤ x ≤ 2. For d > 1, We have the recurrence:
f(d,0) = (f(d-1,0) + f(d-1,1) + f(d-1,2)) * 9 // f(d,0) comes from any d-1 digits patterns appended a non-zero digit
f(d,1) = f(d-1,0) // f(d,1) comes from the d-1 digits patterns without tailing zeros appended by a zero
f(d,2) = f(d-1,1) // f(d,2) comes from the d-1 digits patterns with one tailing zero appended by a zero
And for d = 1, we have f(1,0) = 9, f(1,1) = 0, f(1,2) = 0.
The final answer for the original problem is f(d,0) + f(d,1) + f(d,2).
Here is a simple C program for demo:
#include <cstdio>
const int MOD = 1000000007;
long long f[128][3];
int main() {
int n;
scanf("%d",&n);
f[1][0] = 9;
for (int i = 2 ; i <= n ; ++i) {
f[i][0] = (f[i-1][0] + f[i-1][1] + f[i-1][2]) * 9 % MOD;
f[i][1] = f[i-1][0];
f[i][2] = f[i-1][1];
}
printf("%lld\n", (f[n][0] + f[n][1] + f[n][2]) % MOD);
return 0;
}
NOTE: i haven't tested out my logic thoroughly, so please point out where i might be wrong.
The recurrence for the problem can be
f(d)=f(d/2)*f(d-d/2)-( f(d/2-1)*f(d-d/2-2) + f(d/2-2)*f(d-d/2-1) )
f(0)=1;f(1)=10;f(2)=100;f(3)=999;
here, f(i) is the total number special digits that can be formed considering that '0' can occur as the first digit. So, the actual answer for a 'd' digit number would be 9*f(d-1).
You can easily memoize the recurrence solution to make a DP solution.
I haven't tried out the validity of this solution, so it might be wrong.
Here is my logic:
for f(d), divide/partition the number into d/2 and (d-d/2) digit numbers, add the product of f(d)*f(d-d/2). Now, to remove the invalid cases which may occur across the partition we made, subtract f(d/2-1)*f(d-d/2-2) + f(d/2-2)*f(d-d/2-1) from the answer (assume that three zero occur across the partition we made). Try it with paper and pen and you will get it.
I was given the following problem in an interview:
Given a staircase with N steps, you can go up with 1 or 2 steps each time. Output all possible way you go from bottom to top.
For example:
N = 3
Output :
1 1 1
1 2
2 1
When interviewing, I just said to use dynamic programming.
S(n) = S(n-1) +1 or S(n) = S(n-1) +2
However, during the interview, I didn't write very good code for this. How would you code up a solution to this problem?
Thanks indeed!
I won't write the code for you (since it's a great exercise), but this is a classic dynamic programming problem. You're on the right track with the recurrence; it's true that
S(0) = 1
Since if you're at the bottom of the stairs there's exactly one way to do this. We also have that
S(1) = 1
Because if you're one step high, your only option is to take a single step down, at which point you're at the bottom.
From there, the recurrence for the number of solutions is easy to find. If you think about it, any sequence of steps you take either ends with taking one small step as your last step or one large step as your last step. In the first case, each of the S(n - 1) solutions for n - 1 stairs can be extended into a solution by taking one more step, while in the second case each of the S(n - 2) solutions to the n - 2 stairs case can be extended into a solution by taking two steps. This gives the recurrence
S(n) = S(n - 2) + S(n - 1)
Notice that to evaluate S(n), you only need access to S(n - 2) and S(n - 1). This means that you could solve this with dynamic programming using the following logic:
Create an array S with n + 1 elements in it, indexed by 0, 1, 2, ..., n.
Set S[0] = S[1] = 1
For i from 2 to n, inclusive, set S[i] = S[i - 1] + S[i - 2].
Return S[n].
The runtime for this algorithm is a beautiful O(n) with O(n) memory usage.
However, it's possible to do much better than this. In particular, let's take a look at the first few terms of the sequence, which are
S(0) = 1
S(1) = 1
S(2) = 2
S(3) = 3
S(4) = 5
This looks a lot like the Fibonacci sequence, and in fact you might be able to see that
S(0) = F(1)
S(1) = F(2)
S(2) = F(3)
S(3) = F(4)
S(4) = F(5)
This suggests that, in general, S(n) = F(n + 1). We can actually prove this by induction on n as follows.
As our base cases, we have that
S(0) = 1 = F(1) = F(0 + 1)
and
S(1) = 1 = F(2) = F(1 + 1)
For the inductive step, we get that
S(n) = S(n - 2) + S(n - 1) = F(n - 1) + F(n) = F(n + 1)
And voila! We've gotten this series written in terms of Fibonacci numbers. This is great, because it's possible to compute the Fibonacci numbers in O(1) space and O(lg n) time. There are many ways to do this. One uses the fact that
F(n) = (1 / √(5)) (Φn + φn)
Here, Φ is the golden ratio, (1 + √5) / 2 (about 1.6), and φ is 1 - Φ, about -0.6. Because this second term drops to zero very quickly, you can get a the nth Fibonacci number by computing
(1 / √(5)) Φn
And rounding down. Moreover, you can compute Φn in O(lg n) time by repeated squaring. The idea is that we can use this cool recurrence:
x0 = 1
x2n = xn * xn
x2n + 1 = x * xn * xn
You can show using a quick inductive argument that this terminates in O(lg n) time, which means that you can solve this problem using O(1) space and O(lg n) time, which is substantially better than the DP solution.
Hope this helps!
You can generalize your recursive function to also take already made moves.
void steps(n, alreadyTakenSteps) {
if (n == 0) {
print already taken steps
}
if (n >= 1) {
steps(n - 1, alreadyTakenSteps.append(1));
}
if (n >= 2) {
steps(n - 2, alreadyTakenSteps.append(2));
}
}
It's not really the code, more of a pseudocode, but it should give you an idea.
Your solution sounds right.
S(n):
If n = 1 return {1}
If n = 2 return {2, (1,1)}
Return S(n-1)x{1} U S(n-2)x{2}
(U is Union, x is Cartesian Product)
Memoizing this is trivial, and would make it O(Fib(n)).
Great answer by #templatetypedef - I did this problem as an exercise and arrived at the Fibonacci numbers on a different route:
The problem can basically be reduced to an application of Binomial coefficients which are handy for Combination problems: The number of combinations of n things taken k at a time (called n choose k) can be found by the equation
Given that and the problem at hand you can calculate a solution brute force (just doing the combination count). The number of "take 2 steps" must be zero at least and may be 50 at most, so the number of combinations is the sum of C(n,k) for 0 <= k <= 50 ( n= number of decisions to be made, k = number of 2's taken out of those n)
BigInteger combinationCount = 0;
for (int k = 0; k <= 50; k++)
{
int n = 100 - k;
BigInteger result = Fact(n) / (Fact(k) * Fact(n - k));
combinationCount += result;
}
The sum of these binomial coefficients just happens to also have a different formula:
Actually, you can prove that the number of ways to climb is just the fibonacci sequence. Good explanation here: http://theory.cs.uvic.ca/amof/e_fiboI.htm
Solving the problem, and solving it using a dynamic programming solution are potentially two different things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_programming
In general, to solve a given problem, we need to solve different parts of the problem (subproblems), then combine the solutions of the subproblems to reach an overall solution. Often, many of these subproblems are really the same. The dynamic programming approach seeks to solve each subproblem only once, thus reducing the number of computations
This leads me to believe you want to look for a solution that is both Recursive, and uses the Memo Design Pattern. Recursion solves a problem by breaking it into sub-problems, and the Memo design pattern allows you to cache answers, thus avoiding re-calculation. (Note that there are probably cache implementations that aren't the Memo design pattern, and you could use one of those as well).
Solving:
The first step I would take would be to solve some set of problems by hand, with varying or increasing sizes of N. This will give you a pattern to help you figure out a solution. Start with N = 1, through N = 5. (as others have stated, it may be a form of the fibbonacci sequence, but I would determine this for myself before calling the problem solved and understood).
From there, I would try to make a generalized solution that used recursion. Recursion solves a problem by breaking it into sub-problems.
From there, I would try to make a cache of previous problem inputs to the corresponding output, hence memoizing it, and making a solution that involved "Dynamic Programming".
I.e., maybe the inputs to one of your functions are 2, 5, and the correct result was 7. Make some function that looks this up from an existing list or dictionary (based on the input). It will look for a call that was made with the inputs 2, 5. If it doesn't find it, call the function to calculate it, then store it and return the answer (7). If it does find it, don't bother calculating it, and return the previously calculated answer.
Here is a simple solution to this question in very simple CSharp (I believe you can port this with almost no change to Java/C++).
I have added a little bit more of complexity to it (adding the possibility that you can also walk 3 steps). You can even generalize this code to "from 1 to k-steps" if desired with a while loop in the addition of steps (last if statement).
I have used a combination of both dynamic programming and recursion. The use of dynamic programming avoid the recalculation of each previous step; reducing the space and time complexity related to the call stack. It however adds some space complexity (O(maxSteps)) which I think is negligible compare to the gain.
/// <summary>
/// Given a staircase with N steps, you can go up with 1 or 2 or 3 steps each time.
/// Output all possible way you go from bottom to top
/// </summary>
public class NStepsHop
{
const int maxSteps = 500; // this is arbitrary
static long[] HistorySumSteps = new long[maxSteps];
public static long CountWays(int n)
{
if (n >= 0 && HistorySumSteps[n] != 0)
{
return HistorySumSteps[n];
}
long currentSteps = 0;
if (n < 0)
{
return 0;
}
else if (n == 0)
{
currentSteps = 1;
}
else
{
currentSteps = CountWays(n - 1) +
CountWays(n - 2) +
CountWays(n - 3);
}
HistorySumSteps[n] = currentSteps;
return currentSteps;
}
}
You can call it in the following manner
long result;
result = NStepsHop.CountWays(0); // result = 1
result = NStepsHop.CountWays(1); // result = 1
result = NStepsHop.CountWays(5); // result = 13
result = NStepsHop.CountWays(10); // result = 274
result = NStepsHop.CountWays(25); // result = 2555757
You can argue that the initial case when n = 0, it could 0, instead of 1. I decided to go for 1, however modifying this assumption is trivial.
the problem can be solved quite nicely using recursion:
void printSteps(int n)
{
char* output = new char[n+1];
generatePath(n, output, 0);
printf("\n");
}
void generatePath(int n, char* out, int recLvl)
{
if (n==0)
{
out[recLvl] = '\0';
printf("%s\n",out);
}
if(n>=1)
{
out[recLvl] = '1';
generatePath(n-1,out,recLvl+1);
}
if(n>=2)
{
out[recLvl] = '2';
generatePath(n-2,out,recLvl+1);
}
}
and in main:
void main()
{
printSteps(0);
printSteps(3);
printSteps(4);
return 0;
}
It's a weighted graph problem.
From 0 you can get to 1 only 1 way (0-1).
You can get to 2 two ways, from 0 and from 1 (0-2, 1-1).
You can get to 3 three ways, from 1 and from 2 (2 has two ways).
You can get to 4 five ways, from 2 and from 3 (2 has two ways and 3 has three ways).
You can get to 5 eight ways, ...
A recursive function should be able to handle this, working backwards from N.
Complete C-Sharp code for this
void PrintAllWays(int n, string str)
{
string str1 = str;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(str1);
if (n == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine(str1);
return;
}
if (n >= 1)
{
sb = new StringBuilder(str1);
PrintAllWays(n - 1, sb.Append("1").ToString());
}
if (n >= 2)
{
sb = new StringBuilder(str1);
PrintAllWays(n - 2, sb.Append("2").ToString());
}
}
Late C-based answer
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define steps 60
static long long unsigned int MAP[steps + 1] = {1 , 1 , 2 , 0,};
static long long unsigned int countPossibilities(unsigned int n) {
if (!MAP[n]) {
MAP[n] = countPossibilities(n-1) + countPossibilities(n-2);
}
return MAP[n];
}
int main() {
printf("%llu",countPossibilities(steps));
}
Here is a C++ solution. This prints all possible paths for a given number of stairs.
// Utility function to print a Vector of Vectors
void printVecOfVec(vector< vector<unsigned int> > vecOfVec)
{
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < vecOfVec.size(); i++)
{
for (unsigned int j = 0; j < vecOfVec[i].size(); j++)
{
cout << vecOfVec[i][j] << " ";
}
cout << endl;
}
cout << endl;
}
// Given a source vector and a number, it appends the number to each source vectors
// and puts the final values in the destination vector
void appendElementToVector(vector< vector <unsigned int> > src,
unsigned int num,
vector< vector <unsigned int> > &dest)
{
for (int i = 0; i < src.size(); i++)
{
src[i].push_back(num);
dest.push_back(src[i]);
}
}
// Ladder Problem
void ladderDynamic(int number)
{
vector< vector<unsigned int> > vecNminusTwo = {{}};
vector< vector<unsigned int> > vecNminusOne = {{1}};
vector< vector<unsigned int> > vecResult;
for (int i = 2; i <= number; i++)
{
// Empty the result vector to hold fresh set
vecResult.clear();
// Append '2' to all N-2 ladder positions
appendElementToVector(vecNminusTwo, 2, vecResult);
// Append '1' to all N-1 ladder positions
appendElementToVector(vecNminusOne, 1, vecResult);
vecNminusTwo = vecNminusOne;
vecNminusOne = vecResult;
}
printVecOfVec(vecResult);
}
int main()
{
ladderDynamic(6);
return 0;
}
may be I am wrong.. but it should be :
S(1) =0
S(2) =1
Here We are considering permutations so in that way
S(3) =3
S(4) =7