Home » Other » General » Puzzle n°12 - Arithmetic expressions for a given result (24 game) *
Puzzle n°12 - Arithmetic expressions for a given result (24 game) * [message #509798] Wed, 01 June 2011 02:24 Go to next message
Michel Cadot
Messages: 68625
Registered: March 2007
Location: Nanterre, France, http://...
Senior Member
Account Moderator
Here's a puzzle posted in OTN forum and named 24 game.

Quote:
My son just got a game called 24 each card has 4 numbers on it.
Here are the rules:
object is to make 24 with all four numbers on the card.
you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide
you must use all four numbers, but use each only once.
you may use the result of an operation but only once
for example for the numbers 5 8 4 and 7  4 + 8 = 12   7 - 5 = 2   2 x 12 = 24


And here's the test case:
drop table game;
create table game (num integer);
insert into game values (5);
insert into game values (8);
insert into game values (4);
insert into game values (7);
commit;

The result should be all expressions using the basic arithmetic operations and giving the result 24 using all given numbers once and only once.
The result for the example given above is: (4+8)*(7-5)

You can use any Oracle version you want but indicate it.

(Note: I found 156 different expressions.)

Good luck.
Michel

[Updated on: Wed, 01 June 2011 02:31]

Report message to a moderator

Re: Puzzle n°12 - Arithmetic expressions for a given result (24 game) * [message #517321 is a reply to message #509798] Mon, 25 July 2011 06:54 Go to previous message
Michel Cadot
Messages: 68625
Registered: March 2007
Location: Nanterre, France, http://...
Senior Member
Account Moderator
It seems nobody is interesting in this problem.

Here are 2 solutions (from 10g):
with 
  numbers as ( -- All permutations of the given numbers
    select replace(sys_connect_by_path(num, '#'),'#') v
    from game 
    where connect_by_isleaf = 1 
    connect by nocycle prior num != num
  ),
  oper as ( -- Allowed operators
    select decode(level, 1,'-', 2,'+', 3, '*', 4,'/') op
    from dual
    connect by level <= 4
  ),
  opers as ( -- All combinations of these operators
    select a.op||b.op||c.op op
    from oper a, oper b, oper c
  ),
  -- All possible combinations of parentheses (numbered from 1 to 5)
  parent as ( select level par from dual connect by level <= 5 ),
  formulas as ( -- Build all possible formulas, assuming numbers have one digit
    select decode (par,
                   -- case "((a.b).c).d"
                   1, '(('||substr(v,1,1)||substr(op,1,1)||substr(v,2,1)||')'||
                      substr(op,2,1)||substr(v,3,1)||')'||substr(op,3,1)||substr(v,4,1),
                   -- case "(a.(b.c)).d"
                   2, '('||substr(v,1,1)||substr(op,1,1)||'('||substr(v,2,1)||substr(op,2,1)||
                      substr(v,3,1)||'))'||substr(op,3,1)||substr(v,4,1),
                   -- case "(a.b).(c.d)"
                   3, '('||substr(v,1,1)||substr(op,1,1)||substr(v,2,1)||')'||
                      substr(op,2,1)||'('||substr(v,3,1)||substr(op,3,1)||substr(v,4,1)||')',
                   -- case "a.((b.c).d)"
                   4, substr(v,1,1)||substr(op,1,1)||'(('||substr(v,2,1)||substr(op,2,1)||
                      substr(v,3,1)||')'||substr(op,3,1)||substr(v,4,1)||')',
                   -- case "a.(b.(c.d))"
                   5, substr(v,1,1)||substr(op,1,1)||'('||substr(v,2,1)||substr(op,2,1)||
                      '('||substr(v,3,1)||substr(op,3,1)||substr(v,4,1)||'))')
             formula
    from numbers, opers, parent
  )
select formula
from formulas
-- Restrict the formulas to those that results to 24
where 24 = 
      to_number(extractvalue(dbms_xmlgen.getXMLtype('select '||formula||' v from dual'),'//V'))
/


with 
  numbers as ( -- All permutations of the given numbers
    select sys_connect_by_path(num, '#')||'#' v
    from game 
    where connect_by_isleaf = 1 
    connect by nocycle prior num != num
  ),
  oper as ( -- Allowed operators
    select decode(level, 1,'-', 2,'+', 3, '*', 4,'/') op
    from dual
    connect by level <= 4
  ),
  -- All possible combinations of parentheses (numbered from 1 to 5)
  parent as ( select level par from dual connect by level <= 5 ),
  formulas as ( -- Build all possible formulas, no assumption
    select decode (par,
                   -- case "((a.b).c).d"
                   1, regexp_replace ( 
                        regexp_replace ( 
                          regexp_replace ( 
                            regexp_replace ( 
                              regexp_replace (v, '#', '((', 1, 1),
                            '#', op1.op, 1, 1),
                          '#', ')'||op2.op, 1, 1),
                        '#', ')'||op3.op, 1, 1),
                      '#', '', 1, 1),
                   -- case "(a.(b.c)).d"
                   2, regexp_replace ( 
                        regexp_replace ( 
                          regexp_replace ( 
                            regexp_replace ( 
                              regexp_replace (v, '#', '(', 1, 1),
                            '#', op1.op||'(', 1, 1),
                          '#', op2.op, 1, 1),
                        '#', '))'||op3.op, 1, 1),
                      '#', '', 1, 1),
                   -- case "(a.b).(c.d)"
                   3, regexp_replace ( 
                        regexp_replace ( 
                          regexp_replace ( 
                            regexp_replace ( 
                              regexp_replace (v, '#', '(', 1, 1),
                            '#', op1.op, 1, 1),
                          '#', ')'||op2.op||'(', 1, 1),
                        '#', op3.op, 1, 1),
                      '#', ')', 1, 1),
                   -- case "a.((b.c).d)"
                   4, regexp_replace ( 
                        regexp_replace ( 
                          regexp_replace ( 
                            regexp_replace ( 
                              regexp_replace(v, '#', '', 1, 1),
                            '#', op1.op||'((', 1, 1),
                          '#', op2.op, 1, 1),
                        '#', ')'||op3.op, 1, 1),
                      '#', ')', 1, 1),
                   -- case "a.(b.(c.d))"
                   5, regexp_replace ( 
                        regexp_replace ( 
                          regexp_replace ( 
                            regexp_replace ( 
                              regexp_replace (v, '#', '', 1, 1),
                            '#', op1.op||'(', 1, 1),
                          '#', op2.op||'(', 1, 1),
                        '#', op3.op, 1, 1),
                      '#', '))', 1, 1))
             formula
    from numbers, oper op1, oper op2, oper op3, parent
  )
select formula
from formulas
-- Restrict the formulas to those that results to 24
where 24 = 
      to_number(extractvalue(dbms_xmlgen.getXMLtype('select '||formula||' v from dual'),'//V'))
/


(In 11g you can use xmlquery instead of this complex formula with dbms_xmlgen.)

These solutions:
1/ Work on rational numbers, that is some intermediate results are not integers
2/ Display obvious equivalent solutions like (a+b)+(c+d)=a+(b+(c+d))=((a+b)+c)+d...

Next steps:
1/ Eliminate solutions with non integer intermediate results
2/ Eliminate obvious equivalent solutions

Good luck
Michel
Previous Topic: please tell me
Next Topic: Puzzle n°13 - light bulbs *
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Fri Mar 29 04:12:46 CDT 2024