lawsonh's blog

By lawsonh, history, 3 years ago, In English

Hello codeforces,

I have been offered a challenge by a friend, I was wondering if any algorithms could help succeed in this challenge.

Given a fixed set S of ~100000 unique 32 bit numbers, how would you devise an algorithm such that a human can compute on pen and paper whether a given number x is in S?

The algorithm should be feasible to be memorised given a year of practice.

After you have practiced your algorithm, you will be placed in a room with nothing except a blank piece of paper and pencil. There is an examiner in the room who will dictate a number to you, you have 60 seconds to determine whether that number was part of S. The set S of 100000 numbers is not available as a printout in the room.

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