Re: One for the weekend: challenge

[ysth]

in reply to One for the weekend: challenge

Pfah! Cannot they write problems like this without ambiguities? We hates them, we do.

The one that's bothering me is the "can" in: "If and only if at a particular point no word at all from the dictionary can be inserted,". Does that mean "can be inserted to successfully produce a solution"? Or "can be inserted whether or not a correct solution results"? If the former, given the single-word dictionary "aaa", "55555" has solution "5 aaa 5". If the latter, it has no solutions.

[karavelov]

We are looking only for correct results, aren't we? So, I think that only the first interpretation is correct. In your example, the "5 aaa 5" case.

[ysth]

I don't understand how that is an argument that there isn't an ambiguity.

[BrowserUk]

I would suggest that all ambiguities are resolved by example. In this case, the following would seem to apply:

4824: 4 Ort, because in place of the first digit the words Torf, fort, Tor could be used

I read that to say, that as 'aaa' can be applied at the first step, inserting a digit at that point is illegal. Therefore your example has no solutions.

[Limbic~Region]

BrowserUk,
I also read the rules incorrectly because of the following example:

04824: 0 Torf
04824: 0 fort
04824: 0 Tor 4

The last solution is what lead me astray. If it had read:

As you work left to right, if at any point a word can be inserted - using a digit is illegal and at no point can two digits be adjacent

I would have understood much better. In any event, my solution is buggy and produces incorrect results. Since it seems like you were after approaches, I believe mine is interesting because of the unrestricted integer partitions. I have no interest at this point in making it a correct solution.

[BrowserUk]

I have no interest at this point in making it a correct solution.

That's a real shame, but the primary part of the challenge is 'meeting the spec'.

[ysth]

Nope, that doesn't do it, because using Torf ,fort, or Tor 4 produces a solution. My doubt is whether a digit can be inserted where there could be a word, but not one that produces a solution.

I haven't rigorously examined the sample solutions for lack of one that would establish the point, nor do I really care to.

[BrowserUk]

My doubt is whether a digit can be inserted where there could be a word, but not one that produces a solution.

Well. I think it is perfectly clear. You cannot use a digit at any point where a word is available. (*)

(*) I was about to add 'regardless of whether a solution can be achieved', but it is unnecessary. If there is a word available, you cannot ignore that word and use a digit. For any reason, including achieving a solution that would otherwise be complient.

For the record, without that rule, there would be many more solutions that are presented in the official results.