On Sun, Nov 14, 2004 at 07:34:07AM +0900, Steven Jenkins scribed: > > I need a faster computer or a faster brain. I've got a brute force > algorithm that appears to work, but it won't complete in anything like > three minutes. 3 minutes is doable - you'll get it. Mine takes either 110 seconds or 11 seconds depending on the setting of the magic option that might be a spoiler to talk about. The difference between my implementation's time and the previous poster's is probably due more to machine speed differences than anything. > I guess I won't reveal the number until tomorrow, but my count of the > distinct calculation expressions you can form with six numbers and four > operators (not accounting for commutativity) is uhh... big. It's probably not giving too much away to say that the number is still expressable as 32-bit integer. Now if only I could figure out how to make the code more elegant. This is a terrible time-suck! :) -Dave -- work: dga / lcs.mit.edu me: dga / pobox.com MIT Laboratory for Computer Science http://www.angio.net/