Is there a way to find the next item in random sequence? - c++

I know that there was a program like this:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main() {
const std::string alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789";
std::string temp = "1234567890";
srand(MAGICNUMBER);
for (int i = 0;; ++i) {
for (int j = 0; j < 10; ++j)
temp[j] = alphabet[rand() % alphabet.size()];
std::cout << temp << std::endl;
}
}
Basically, random 10-symbol string generator.
I also know that the 124660967-th generated string was "2lwd9JjVnE". Is there a way to find what the MAGICNUMBER is, or, at least, the next string in the sequence?
Brute-forcing would be painful, given the time it takes to generate one such sequence, but I have some info about the compiler used (if that helps?): it was 64-bit g++ 4.8 for Linux.
UPD. Finding the next item would already be very helpful; can I do that in reasonable amount of time (especially without a seed)?

Yes, given typical rand() implementations this is likely to be possible, fairly easy, even.
rand() is typically a linear congruential generator such that each internal state of the generator is formed from a simple arithmetic equation of the previous state: x1 = (a*x0 + c) % m. You'll need to know the constants a, c and m used by the particular implementation you're targeting, and the method of producing the output value from the state (usually the values are either the entire state, or the upper half of the state). It's also important that the state is typically only 32-bits. A larger state would be more difficult.
So you need to find a state for the pRNG such that the next ten states produce the particular sequence of indices that produce the 10 characters you're looking for: 2lwd9JjVnE. So assuming the entire state is output by rand(), you need to find some 32-bit number x such that:
x % 62 = 54
(x1 = (a*x + c) % m) % 62 == 11
(x2 = (a*x1 + c) % m) % 62 == 22
(x3 = (a*x2 + c) % m) % 62 == 3
(x4 = (a*x3 + c) % m) % 62 == 61
(x5 = (a*x4 + c) % m) % 62 == 35
(x6 = (a*x5 + c) % m) % 62 == 9
(x7 = (a*x6 + c) % m) % 62 == 47
(x8 = (a*x7 + c) % m) % 62 == 13
(x9 = (a*x8 + c) % m) % 62 == 30
This could be done without too much difficulty by trying all 2^32 possible state values (assuming the typical 32-bit state). However, since the constants used were probably chosen to ensure that the RNG runs through a complete 32-bit period, you can simply choose any state at all and run it until you find this sequence.
Either way, once you know the state that produces these values, you then simply have to run the generator backwards for 124660967 * 10 steps in order to find which state was used as the original seed. To do that you'll need to compute the congruence multiplicative inverse of a mod m. Alternatively you could run it forward for (period - 124660967*10) steps.

No, it's almost not possible. As #chux pointed out in their comment the exact implementation isn't specified in the c++ standard.
You'll need to check for all of the sequences that will be generated with all possible seeds. That will run in an unreasonable amount of computing time necessary.
Though if the compiler is well known, and the implementation is open source (as is in your specific case), there could be ways to find out the initial seed value, knowing the specific rand() result for a specific iteration on the call.

If you have access to the program, disassemble it to attempt to learn what the magic number was.
Otherwise the standard doesn't specify anything about storing the srand value so you're stuck with alternate approaches, such as brute-forcing all seeds, or possibly trying to store the sequence of random numbers looking for the ten in a row that generate the string you're interested in.

Related

Music Chairs problem implementation in C++

I am currently practicing algorithms and DS. I have stumbled upon a question that I can't figure out how to solve. So the question's link is there:
In summary, it says that there is a number of chairs in a circle, and the position of the person (relative to a certain chair), and how many M movements he should make.
So the input is as following:
3 integer numbers N, M, X , The number of chairs, the number of times the boy should move and the first chair he will start from respectively ( 1  ≤  X  ≤  N < 2^63 , 0  ≤  M < 2^63 )
So, what have I done so far? I thought about the following:
So I thought that the relative position after M movements is (x+m) % n, and since this can cause Integer overflow, I have done it like that, ((x%n) + (m%n)) % n. I have figured out that if the person has reached the last index of chair, it will be 0 so I handled that. However, it passes only 2 tests. I don't need any code to be written, I want to directed in the right way of thinking. Here is my code so far:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
long long n, m, x;
cin >> n >> m >> x;
// After each move, he reaches (X+1).
// X, N chairs.
// ((X % N) + (M % N)) % N;
// Odd conideration.
if ( m % 2 == 1) {
m += 1;
}
long long position = (x % n + m % n) % n;
if (position == 0) {
position = n;
}
cout << position;
return 0;
}
If the question required specific error handling, it should have stated so (so don't feel bad).
In every real-world project, there should be a standard to dictate what to do with weird input. Do you throw? Do you output a warning? If so, does it have to be translated to the system language?
In the absence of such instructions I would err toward excluding these values after reading them. Print an error to std::cerr (or throw an exception). Do this as close to where you read them as possible.
For overflow detection, you can use the methods described here. Some may disagree, and for a lab-exercise, it's probably not important. However, there is a saying in computing "Garbage in == Garbage out". It's a good habit to check for garbage before processing, rather than attempting to "recycle" garbage as you process.
Here's the problem:
Say the value of N is 2^63-1, and X and M are both 2^63 - 2.
When your program runs untill the ((X % N) + (M % N)) % N part,
X % N evaluates into 2^63 - 2 (not changed), and so does M % N.
Then, the addition between the two results occurs, 2^63 - 2 + 2^63 - 2 there is the overflow happening.
After the comment of #WBuck, the answer is actually rather easy which is to change the long long to unsigned because there are no negative numbers and therefore, increase the MAX VALUE of long long (when using unsigned).
Thank you so much.

pigeon hole / multiple numbers

input : integer ( i'll call it N ) and (1 <= N <= 5,000,000 )
output : integer, multiple of N and only contains 0,7
Ex.
Q1 input : 1 -> output : 7 ( 7 mod 1 == 0 )
Q2 input : 2 -> output : 70 ( 70 mod 2 == 0 )
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
typedef long long ll;
int remaind(string num, ll m)
{
ll mod = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < num.size(); i++) {
int digit = num[i] - '0';
mod = mod * 10 + digit;
mod = mod % m;
}
return mod;
}
int main()
{
int n;
string ans;
cin >> n;
ans.append(n, '7');
for (int i = ans.length() - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
if (remaind(ans, n) == 0)
{
cout << ans;
return 0;
}
ans.at(i) = '0';
}
return 0;
}
is there a way to lessen the time complexity?
i just tried very hard and it takes little bit more time to run while n is more than 1000000
ps. changed code
ps2. changed code again because of wrong code
ps3. optimize code again
ps4. rewrite post
Your approach is wrong, let's say you divide "70" by 5. Then you result will be 2 which is not right (just analyze your code to see why that happens).
You can really base your search upon numbers like 77777770000000, but think more about that - which numbers you need to add zeros and which numbers you do not.
Next, do not use strings! Think of reminder for a * b if you know reminder of a and reminder of b. When you program it, be careful with integer size, use 64 bit integers.
Now, what about a + b?
Finally, find reminders for numbers 10, 100, 1000, 10000, etc (once again, do not use strings and still try to find reminder for any power of 10).
Well, if you do all that, you'll be able to easily solve the whole problem.
May I recommend any of the boost::bignum integer classes?
I suspect uint1024_t (or whatever... they also have 128, 256, and 512, bit ints already typedefed, and you can declare your own easily enough) will meet your needs, allowing you to perform a single %, rather than one per iteration. This may outweigh the performance lost when using bignum vs c++'s built-in ints.
2^1024 ~= 1.8e+308. Enough to represent any 308 digit number. That's probably excessive.
2^512 ~= 1.34e+154. Good for any 154 digit number.
etc.
I suspect you should first write a loop that went through n = 4e+6 -> 5e+6 and wrote out which string got the longest, then size your uint*_t appropriately. If that longest string length is more than 308 characters, you could just whip up your own:
typedef number<cpp_int_backend<LENGTH, LENGTH, unsigned_magnitude, unchecked, void> > myReallyUnsignedBigInt;
The modulo operator is probably the most expensive operation in that inner loop. Performing once per iteration on the outer loop rather than at the inner loop (O(n) vs O(n^2)) should save you quite a bit of time.
Will that plus the whole "not going to and from strings" thing pay for bignum's overhead? You'll have to try it and see.

How do I go about getting the real result for 50%60 in C++

I please check this problem I'm creating a Time Base app but I'm having problem getting to work around the modulus oper (%) I want the remainder of 50%60 which I'm expecting to output 10 but it just give me the Lhvalues instead i.e 50. How do I go about it.
Here is a part review of the code.
void setM(int m){
if ((m+min)>59){
hour+=((min+m)/60);
min=0;
min=(min+m)%60;
}
else min+=m;
}
In the code m is passed in as 50 and min is passed in as 10
How do I get the output to be 10 for min in this equation min=(min+m)%60; without reversing the equation i.e
60%(min+m)
in C++ expression a % b returns remainder of division of a by b (if they are positive. For negative numbers sign of result is implementation defined).
you should do : 60 % 50 if you want to divide by 50
Or, if you want to get mins, i think you don't need to make min=0.
When you do 50 % 60, you get a remiainder of 50 since 50 cannot be divided by 60.
To get around this error, you can try doing do something like 70 % 60 to get the correct value as a result, since you do not want to use 60 % 50
This would follow the following logic:
Find the difference between 60 and min + m after min is set to zero if min + mis less than 60. Store it in a variable var initially set to zero.
check if the result is negative; if it is, then set it to positive by multiplying it by -1
When you do the operation, do min = ((min + m) + var) % 60; instead.
***Note: As I am unfamiliar with a Time Base App and what its purpose is, this solution may or may not be required, hence please inform me in the comments before downvoting if I there is anything wrong with my answer. Thanks!
It looks like you are trying to convert an integral number of minutes to an hour/minute pair. That would look more like this instead:
void setM(int m)
{
hour = m / 60;
min = m % 60;
}
If you are trying to add an integral number of minutes to an existing hour/minute pair, it would look more like this:
void addM(int m)
{
int value = (hour * 60) + min;
value += m;
hour = value / 60;
min = value % 60;
}
Or
void addM(int m)
{
setM(((hour * 60) + min) + m);
}

modular arithmetic-mod of huge numbers in c++

In my short sports programming career i encountered many time Calculating mod of numbers like
26164615615665561165154564545......%(10000007)
I have done some research but could only find calculation of mods of numbers in the form
(a^b)%c
can anybody explain how to calculate mod of numbers like the first example.
C++ does not have any long integer arithmetic facilities as part of the standard library.
If you want to compute with long integers, you need to rely on an external library.
Two good choices seem to be
GMP: https://gmplib.org - if you are not afraid of C-like interface (there is also gmpxx though)
NTL: http://www.shoup.net/ntl/ - my personal favourite, provides clear and easy interface (e.g. class ZZ for long integers and ZZ_p for long integers modulo)
Here is an example (taken from NTL examples) of how a modular exponentiation could be done using NTL:
ZZ PowerMod(const ZZ& a, const ZZ& e, const ZZ& n)
{
if (e == 0) return ZZ(1);
long k = NumBits(e);
ZZ res;
res = 1;
for (long i = k-1; i >= 0; i--) {
res = (res*res) % n;
if (bit(e, i) == 1) res = (res*a) % n;
}
if (e < 0)
return InvMod(res, n);
else
return res;
}
I have found the solution(maybe)
So,here goes explaination.If we want to calculate mod of very big numbers that cannot be stored as any data type than we have to take number as a string.Than we will do something like this
int remainder(string &s,first)
{
int rem=0;
for(int i=0;i<s.length();++i)
rem=rem*10+(s[i]-'0');//Explaining this below
return rem;
}
Why does it work ?Take a paper and pen and start doing division of string with the number first(taking 100) for ease.
For example, for 1234 % 100.
1 mod 100 = 1
12 mod 100 =(1 * 10 + 2) mod 100 =12
123 mod 100 =(12 * 10 + 3) mod 100 =23
1234 mod 100 =(23 * 10 + 4) mod 100 =34
PS:This is my first answer.Sorry i wrote answer to my own question but i thought it would be good for future readers.

Logical / Relational Expression Optimization

I need to optimize an expression of the form:
(a > b) || (a > c)
I tried several optimized forms one of which is as follows:
(a * 2) > (b + c)
Optimization is not from the compiler's point of view. I would like to reduce the two >s to one.
This is based on the assumption that 1 <= (a, b, c) <= 26
However, this works only for some cases. Is the optimization I am trying to do, really possible? If yes, a start would be really helpful.
The answer is probably: you do not want to optimize that. Moreover, I doubt that there's any way to write this more efficiently. If you say that a, b and c are values between 1 and 26, you shouldn't be using integers (you don't need that precision) if you wanted to be optimal (in size) anyway.
If a > b, the expression a > c will not be executed anyway. So you have at maximum 2 (and at minimum 1) conditional operations, which is really not worth an optimization.
I'm quite doubtful this is even an optimisation in most cases.
a > b || a > c
will evaluate to:
compare a b
jump not greater
compare a c
jump not greater
where
a * 2 > b + c
gives:
shift a left 1 (in temp1)
add b to c (in temp2)
compare temp1 temp2
jump if not greater
As always with performance, it's always much better to base your decision on actual performance measurements (preferably on a selection of processor architectures).
The best I can come up with is this
char a, b, c;
std::cin >> a >> b >> c;
if (((b-a) | (c-a)) & 0x80) {
// a > b || a > c
}
With gcc -O2 this generates only one conditional branch
40072e: 29 c8 sub %ecx,%eax
400730: 29 ca sub %ecx,%edx
400732: 09 d0 or %edx,%eax
400734: a8 80 test $0x80,%al
400736: 74 17 je 40074f <main+0x3f>
This leverages the constraints of the input values, since the values cannot be greater than 26 then subtracting a from b will give you a negative value when a > b, in two's complement you know bit 7 will be set in that case - the same applies to c. I then OR both so that bit 7 indicates whether a > b || a > c, lastly we inspect bit 7 by AND with 0x80 and branch on that.
Update: Out of curiosity I timed 4 different ways of coding this. To generate test data I used a simple linear congruential pseudo-random number generator. I timed it in a loop for 100 million iterations. I assumed for simplicity that if the condition is true we want to add 5 to a counter, do nothing otherwise. I timed it using g++ (GCC) 4.6.3 20120306 (Red Hat 4.6.3-2) on an Intel Xeon X5570 # 2.93GHz using -O2 optimization level.
Here's the code (comment out all but one of the conditional variants):
#include <iostream>
unsigned myrand() {
static unsigned x = 1;
return (x = x * 1664525 + 1013904223);
}
int main() {
size_t count = 0;
for(size_t i=0; i<100000000; ++i ) {
int a = 1 + myrand() % 26;
int b = 1 + myrand() % 26;
int c = 1 + myrand() % 26;
count += 5 & (((b-a) | (c-a)) >> 31); // 0.635 sec
//if (((b-a) | (c-a)) & 0x80) count += 5; // 0.660 sec
//if (a > std::max(b,c)) count += 5; // 0.677 sec
//if ( a > b || a > c) count += 5; // 1.164 sec
}
std::cout << count << std::endl;
return 0;
}
The fastest is a modification on the suggestion in my answer, where we use sign extension to generate a mask that is either 32 1s or 32 0s depending on whether the condition is true of false, and use that to mask the 5 being added so that it either adds 5 or 0. This variation has no branches. The times are in a comment on each line. The slowest was the original expression ( a > b || a > c).