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Berkely Programming Contest – CPUFreak91

CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
quote:
Last fall, Berkeley Data Systems ran a "Programmer Deathmatch", offering a $10,000 prize to the one programmer who successfully navigated 3 timed rounds of programming competition. (You can read my write up of the event here and here.)

Of course, Berkeley Data Systems wasn't just trying to add some fun to the local landscape, they were looking for some programmers to recruit and they ended up finding two of them. It looks like they've decided that this was money well spent, because on April 14th, they'll be holding a second in what they've told me will be a recurring series of events.

This time around the stakes are even higher. They've promise $20,000 which will be distributed according to the following equation:

There are some restrictions:
only a few languages are allowed (yes, Ruby's one of them)
all contestants must be full-time residents of Utah
all contestants must be eligible to work in the state of Utah

There are a few more, but you can go and read them at http://mozy.com/contest if you'd like.



Got this from Linux Journal. Check out the site. The sample questions are pretty interesting.

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My Programming and Hacker/Geek related Blog

[This message has been edited by CPUFreak91 (edited April 11, 2007).]

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Very cool! Thanks for the link, CPU.

I had a question about one of the sample questions though, maybe someone can catch where I'm wrong:

quote:
Sample Question 1
We are looking for sequences of n > 0 integers where the absolute values
of the differences of successive elements are included in the set of
numbers 1 through n - 1. For instance,

4 1 2 3

is a match, because the absolute differences are 3, 1, and 1, respectively
where n is 4.

8 6 2

is not a match, because the absolute differences are 2 and 4 respectively
where n is 3.

*snip*

== Example Input ==

5 3 2 -4
2 1 2 4 7
-3 2 1 4 3 3 6
3 4 6 7 3 4 5 12 14 -4 -9 -18 5 22 41 43 29 17 -2 7 19 22 23 24
3 9

== Example Output ==

not a match
match
not a match
match
not a match


They say that -3 2 1 4 3 3 6 is not a match. Why not? It looks to me like n is 7, and the differences between the numbers are 5 1 3 1 1 3, all of which are in the set of numbers from 1 to n-1 (which is 6). What gives? Does anyone else understand why they don't consider that one to be a match?

--clint

jestermax

Member

Posts: 1064
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: 06-21-2006
Utah???? but nobody likes Utah

and this sounds EXTREMELY similar to that ACM world programming competition i participated in last year . it was a blast even though my team did horrible, if you have the chance join in.

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http://Jestermax.googlepages.com/

dartsman

Member

Posts: 484
From: Queensland, Australia
Registered: 03-16-2006
-3 2 1 4 3 3 6

does not match, as it's 5 1 3 1 0 3... '0', which is not between '1 to n-1'

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Junior Programmer www.auran.com
Quality Assurance Lead www.rebelplanetcreations.com

[This message has been edited by dartsman (edited April 11, 2007).]

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by dartsman:
'0', which is not between '1 to n-1'

*doh* Right you are, my friend. Good catch! Thanks.

dartsman

Member

Posts: 484
From: Queensland, Australia
Registered: 03-16-2006
np

EDIT: post counter++;

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Junior Programmer www.auran.com
Quality Assurance Lead www.rebelplanetcreations.com

[This message has been edited by dartsman (edited April 12, 2007).]