simp1eton's blog

Having Problems Understanding Solution
By simp1eton, 13 years ago, In English
Hi all,

I refer you to the following problem.

http://www.codeforces.com/contest/10/problem/E

I tried reading the codes of people who solved the problem, but the codes are pretty cryptic to me. Can someone please enlighten me? Thanks :)
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13 years ago, # |
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It's based on a theorem from this paper
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13 years ago, # |
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Wow thanks! I will read this paper carefully.

But is there another way to solve this problem without prior knowledge? It gets a bit daunting if the only way to solve problems is to know some obscure formula beforehand :S

Or maybe, is there an intuitive way from which one can derive the algorithm?

Thanks in advance!
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  • 13 years ago, # ^ |
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    I don't know… During the contest I came to some conclusions similar to the proof in the paper, so in principle it's possible to obtain it independently. It's only 1 page long, after all.
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    • 13 years ago, # ^ |
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      Would it be possible for you to share how you came up with the algorithm? Your thought processes etc? Thanks! =D
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      • 13 years ago, # ^ |
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        I haven't found the algorithm, just some observations and I don't even remember them :)
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