This question already has answers here:
how to calculate reverse modulus
(5 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
If I have an equation like (x+c) mod y = z and I need to solve for y, how would I go about doing that?
Apologies if this is more math than programming.
No simple formula exists. If a mod n = r then n divides a-r and 0 <= r < n. Candidate n can be found by factoring a - r and finding divisors which are larger than r. Factoring is a much-studied but non-trivial problem. Pick your favorite factoring algorithm. Unless a-r is prime, there won't be a unique solution (unless r is larger than any proper-divisor of a-r).
Given N integers in the form of Ai where 1≤i≤N, the goal is to find the M that minimizes the sum of |M-Ai| and then report that sum.
For example,
Sample Input: 1 2 4 5
Sample Output: 6
Explanation: One of the best M′s you could choose in this case is 3.
So the answer = |1−3|+|2−3|+|4−3|+|5−3| = 6.
The approach I used is sort the given input and take the middle number as M.
But I was not able to solve all the test cases. I am unable to find any other approach for this question. Where did I go wrong?(Please help me this question has been bugging me from the past 2 days.Thanks)
Can M be any real number or must it be an integer?
If there are no constraints on M your algorithm must work fine.
If M must be an integer then you have to choose M among floor(The Middle Number) and ceiling(The Middle Number).
In which language did you code up the algorithm?
Closed. This question is off-topic. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Update the question so it's on-topic for Stack Overflow.
Closed 12 years ago.
Improve this question
I know this is not a mathematical forum but given the bright minds that participate here, i am sure that this question is of interest nevertheless. How would you develop and explain the following statement:
"we can convert the product of a set
of primes into a sum of the logarithms
of the primes by applying logarithms
to both parts of this conjecture"
log(a * b) = log(a) + log(b)
thanks for that OrangeDog and John!
re benefit of introducing logs, OrangeDog is right indeed. It is specific to an exercise from an MIT OpenCourse class. Here's the full details:
There is a cute result from number
theory that states that for
sufficiently large n the product of
the primes less than n is less than or
equal to e^n and that as n grows,
this becomes a tight bound (that is,
the ratio of the product of the primes
to e^n gets close to 1 as n grows).
Computing a product of a large number
of prime numbers can result in a very
large number, which can potentially
cause problems with our computation.
[note: this is what John was referring
to] So we can convert the product of a
set of primes into a sum of the
logarithms of the primes by applying
logarithms to both parts of this
conjecture. In this case, the
conjecture above reduces to the claim
that the sum of the logarithms of all
the primes less than n is less than n,
and that as n grows, the ratio of this
sum to n gets close to 1.
EDIT
given these statements i am, however, unsure about how to apply them i.e.
how do we go from here:
2 x 3 x 5 <= e^7
to
"applying
logarithms to both parts of this
conjecture."
EDIT 2
got it...
2 x 3 x 5 <= e^7
knowing that logarithms are the opposite of powers we can say:
log(2x3x5) <= 7
which is also the same as:
log(2)+log(3)+log(5) <= 7
this only starts to show its "value" when n (in this case 7) gets larger i.e. the 1000th prime or higher
Given the following letters in a license plate, how many combinations of them can you create
AAAA1234
Please note that this is not a homework question (I am too old for college :)
I am only trying to understand permutations and combinations. I always get lost when I see questions like this. Do I use n! or nPr or nCr.
Any book on this subject in addition to the logic used to arrive at the answer will also be greatly appreciated.
I have faith in exactly one method to remember such formulas: Rethink through the reasoning to justify it as needed. Then, each time you need the formula, remembering it becomes a mental exercise that makes it easier to remember it the next time. It also allows you to know the math on your own authority, instead of someone else's authority.
If the letters are all different, then there are n choices for the first letter, n-1 choices for the second letter, and so on. That makes n! However, in your problem the letters are not all different. One trick is to tag them to make them different so that you are overcounting, then divide by the amount that you are overcounting. If a of the symbols are A, then you can tag them in a! ways. They are then all different, so that the answer to the modified question is n!. So the answer to the original question is n!/a! (This is assuming that the symbols other than the A are fixed, distinct numbers.)
Another argument is to count the positions for the numbers. There are n positions for the 1, n-1 positions for the 2, etc., so you get n(n-1)...(n-r+1) = n!/a!, where r = n-a.
In fact the answer is the same as the permutation formula nPr. And your arrangements are much the same as partial permutations, which is what the formula is for. But you'll learn it better if you reason through it before looking at the formula.
As for books, I might suggest Brualdi, Introductory Combinatorics.
One strategy that you can use (there will be many) is to get all the permutations possible, then divide out the repeats.
Permutations of 8 elements = 8!
But for each unique arrangement of these, there are a bunch more with the same positions of the A's. So, how many ways can you arrange four A's in one particular set of positions?
Permutations of 4 A's = 4!
So the total unique arrangements should be 8! / 4!
If I'm totally wrong just someone say so and I'll delete this answer...
If you mean 3 letters A-Z and 4 digits 0...9 in that order, then you have
26 letters x
26 letters x
26 letters x
26 letters x
10 digits x
10 digits x
10 digits x
10 digits
= 26^4 * 10^4
= 4569760000
If no leading "0" is allowed, you get a few less.
Edit1: Miscounted the "A"
Edit2: I reread the question - originally I thought it was just four letters at the beginning followed by 4 numbers. If it's just a permutation thing, then the answer is obviously different: 8! permutations at all, but 4! permutations for the A are the same, so 8! / 4! = 1680.
Answer is 8!/4!
Let's try to explain with a simpler question: Combinations of 112 ?
There are 112, 121 and 211. If all digits would be unique, we could just find the answer by 3! But there is a repeating digit. So we should extract repeating digits by 3!/2! = 3
Another example is 1122. We have two repeating digit here. So we should extract twice. 4!/2!.2! = 6
I think this is a good explanation of permutations and combinations:
Easy Permutations and Combinations Better explained.
It goes step by step until you discover how to make the calculations.
No need for permutations, because all letters can be repeated, even the number
since the given example is [AAAA1234],then we have 4-Letters and 4-Digits.
for each letter we have 26 {A-Z} possible combinations
Thats why for 4 letters we will have 26^4
For each Number we have 10 {0-9} possible combinations, except the last digit we 9 possible combinations {case 1}, if it not allowed to be 0 otherwise it is 10 {case 2}
Thats why for 4 letters we will have 9*10^3 {case 1} or 10^4 {case 2}
The total number of combinations is {case 1} 9*(26^4)***(10^3) or {case 2} (26^4)*(10^4)
But if your question about permutations for the set{A,A,A,A,1,2,3,4}, then consider the the equivalent set {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8} and try avoid the repeated sequence by divide over the permutations of {5,6,7,8} and the answer is 8!/4!=5*6*7*8=1680. the{5,6,7,8} represent {A,A,A,A} See #Tesserex & #erkangur
How many distinct sets of positions can the A's occupy? Given this value, multiply by the number of distinct arrangements of 1234 and you have your answer. You'll need to choose the positions for the A's and then ! will help with the arrangements of 1234.
Consider a simpler example. Let's say you had asked the question:
How many arrangements are there of the symbols: ABCD1234?
Now, since every symbol is distinct, there are 8! ways to arrange them.
Now let's build up to your problem. If we change the letter B to an A, we have AACD1234.
This destroys the uniqueness of exactly half the possible combinations, since any combination where we could have previously switched the A and the B is now non-unique. Therefore, we now have 8!/2 combinations.
Similarly, replacing the C with another A would result in half of the remaining combinations losing their uniqueness, and so on.
So, if only one symbol is duplicated, the generalized formula is (number of symbols total)!/2^(number of duplications)
In your case, the number of possible arrangements is 8!/2^4
This is more of a maths question than programming but I figure a lot of people here are pretty good at maths! :)
My question is: Given a 9 x 9 grid (81 cells) that must contain the numbers 1 to 9 each exactly 9 times, how many different grids can be produced. The order of the numbers doesn't matter, for example the first row could contain nine 1's etc. This is related to Sudoku and we know the number of valid Sudoku grids is 6.67×10^21, so since my problem isn't constrained like Sudoku by having to have each of the 9 numbers in each row, column and box then the answer should be greater than 6.67×10^21.
My first thought was that the answer is 81! however on further reflection this assumes that the 81 numbers possible for each cell are different, distinct number. They are not, there are 81 possible numbers for each cell but only 9 possible different numbers.
My next thought was then that each of the cells in the first row can be any number between 1 and 9. If by chance the first row happened to be all the same number, say all 1s, then each cell in the second row could only have 8 possibilites, 2-9. If this continued down until the last row then number of different permutations could be calculated by 9^2 * 8^2 * 7^2 ..... * 1^2. However this doesn't work if each row doesn't contain 9 of the same number.
It's been quite a while since I studied this stuff and I can't think of a way to work it out, I'd appreciate any help anyone can offer.
Imagine taking 81 blank slips of paper and writing a number from 1 to 9 on each slip (nine of each number). Shuffle the deck, and start placing the slips on the 9x9 grid.
You'd be able to create 81! different patterns if you considered each slip to be unique.
But instead you want to consider all the 1's to be equivalent.
For any particular configuration, how many times will that configuration be repeated
due to the 1's all being equivalent? The answer is 9!, the number of ways you can permute the nine slips with 1 written on them.
So that cuts the total number of permutations down to 81!/9!. (You divide by the number of indistinguishable permutations. Instead of 9! indistinguishable permutations, imagine there were just 2 indistinguishable permutations. You would divide the count by 2, right? So the rule is, you divide by the number of indistinguishable permutations.)
Ah, but you also want the 2's to be equivalent, and the 3's, and so forth.
By the same reasoning, that cuts down the number of permutations to
81!/(9!)^9
By Stirling's approximation, that is roughly 5.8 * 10^70.
First, let's start with 81 numbers, 1 through 81. The number of permutations for that is 81P81, or 81!. Simple enough.
However, we have nine 1s, which can be arranged in 9! indistinguishable permutations. Same with 2, 3, etc.
So what we have is the total number of board permutations divided by all the indistinguishable permutations of all numbers, or 81! / (9! ** 9).
>>> reduce(operator.mul, range(1,82))/(reduce(operator.mul, range(1, 10))**9)
53130688706387569792052442448845648519471103327391407016237760000000000L