Programming Praxis

Today’s exercise is simply stated:

Write a program that finds the maximum product of three numbers in a given array of integers.

We studied that problem in a previous exercise, where unfortunately we got it wrong. Here is the suggested solution from that exercise:

(define (max-prod-three xs)
  (let ((len (length xs)) (xs (sort < xs)))
    (cond ((< len 3) (error 'max-prod-three "insufficient input"))
          ((= len 3) (apply * xs))
          ((positive? (car xs))
            (apply * (take 3 (reverse xs))))
          ((negative? (last xs))
            (apply * (take 3 (reverse xs))))
          ((and (negative? (car xs)) (positive? (cadr xs)))
            (apply * (take 3 (reverse xs))))
          ((and (negative? (cadr xs))
                (negative? (caddr (reverse xs))))
            (* (car xs) (cadr xs) (last xs)))
          ((and (negative? (cadr xs))
                (positive? (caddr (reverse xs))))
            (max (apply * (take 3 (reverse xs)))
                 (* (car xs) (cadr xs) (last xs))))
          (else (error 'max-prod-three "missed case")))))

Your task is to write a correct program that finds the maximum product of three numbers in a given array of integers; you might start by figuring out what is wrong with the previous program. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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We have something different today. Given this code:

int s = 0;

for (int i=0; i<x; i++)
    for (int j=i+1; j<y; j++)
        for (int k=j+1; k<z; k++)
            s++;

What is s? What is a closed-form formula for computing s?

Your task is to compute s. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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John D. Cook, a programmer who writes about mathematics (he would probably describe himself as a mathematician who writes about programming) recently wrote about the distribution of the leading digits of the powers of 2, observing that they follow Benford’s Law, which we studied in a previous exercise.

Your task is to write a program that demonstrates that the distribution of the leading digits of the powers of 2 follows Benford’s Law. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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Six hundred years ago, the people of the French Polynesian island of Mangareva developed a mixed-radix counting system that combined binary and decimal elements to count from 1 to 799. They had no zero. The digits 1 through 9 had their normal decimal value. Digits K, P, T and V had values 10, 20, 40 and 80, respectively, so they increased in a binary progression. A number N was represented as N = nV + T + P + K + m, where n and m were digits; note that T, P and K did not have modifiers. Thus, 73 is represented as TPK3, 219 is represented as 2VTK9, and 799 is represented as 9VTPK9 in Mangarevan. You might enjoy this article in Nature and this article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Arithmetic is interesting: 1VPK9 + 1 = 1VT, and 3VPK3 + 2VTK9 = 6VK2.

Your task is to write programs that translate to and from Mangarevan counting numbers. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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While I was reading some Scheme code recently, I discovered a delightful little Scheme idiom that could simplify some coding tasks. It looks like this:

> (define (make-accum n)
    (case-lambda
      (() n)
      ((m) (set! n (+ n m)) n)))
> (define a (make-accum 20))
> a
#<procedure>
> (a)
20
> (a 10)
30
> (a)
30

Variable a is a accumulator; define it to set its initial value, fetch its current value by calling it as a function, and increment it by calling it with a value. This works because function make-accum returns a function, defined by case-lambda, with a semantics that varies based on its arity: with no arguments, the function returns the value stored in the closure, and with a single argument, it increments the value stored in the closure and returns the new value. The actual value is stored inside the function closure so it is only available through the defined interface, making it “safer” in some sense. And the concept works for other data types than accumulators, as the solution page will show.

Your task is to describe a useful idiom in your favorite programming language. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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The British mathematician John Horton Conway, famous for inventing the Game of Life cellular automaton, made this conjecture:

Select a number, then compute its prime factors, with multiplicity; for instance, 90 = 2 × 3² × 5. Then “bring down” the exponent and write the resulting digits, forming a new number; for instance, the exponent of 2 in the above factorization is brought down, forming the number 2325. Repeat the process with the new number, and again, and so on; for instance, starting from 90, the chain is 90, 2325, 35231, 72719, where the chain terminates. I conjecture that the process will eventually terminate with a prime number.

At his YouTube channel, Numberphile revealed that the conjecture is false. The number 13532385396179 = 13 × 53² × 3853 × 96179, so at each step it replaces itself, resulting in an infinite loop that will never reach a prime, thus disproving the conjecture. The discoverer of that number, James Davis, is entitled to a $1000 prize from Conway.

Your task is to write a program that calculates the climb to a prime for a given input number. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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We studied Pocklington’s Criterion, which lets us quickly find large random primes, in a previous exercise. That algorithm generates a certified prime — a number that is proven to be prime — rather than a probable prime according to some pseudoprimality test.

Even though it’s not hard to generate a certified large prime, most cryptographic applications accept probable primes, primarily because it is much faster to generate a probable prime than a certified prime. Wikipedia explains the algorithm:

For the large primes used in cryptography, it is usual to use a modified form of sieving: a randomly chosen range of odd numbers of the desired size is sieved against a number of relatively small primes (typically all primes less than 65,000). The remaining candidate primes are tested in random order with a standard probabilistic primality test such as the Baillie-PSW primality test or the Miller-Rabin primality test for probable primes.

Your task is to write a program that implements the Wikipedia algorithm for generating large random probable primes. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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We have a two-part exercise today, based on a Microsoft interview question.

First, write a program to rotate an m × n matrix 90° to the right, as shown below; your solution should touch each matrix element only once:

    a b c
    d e f                 m j g d a
A = g h i        rot(A) = n k h e b
    j k l                 o l i f c
    m n o

Second, write a program to rotate a square matrix with n rows and columns in-place. where the source and target matrices are the same matrix and there is no intermediate matrix (be sure your solution works for both even and odd n):

    a b c d e                 u p k f a
    f g h i j                 v q l g b
B = k l m n o        rot(B) = w r m h c
    p q r s t                 x s n i d
    u v w x y                 y t o j e

Your task is to write the two programs that rotate matrices. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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Today’s exercise is only slightly tricky:

Write a program to find the second largest item in an array. Use the least possible number of comparisons.

Your task is to write a program to find the second largest item in an array using the least possible number of comparisons. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

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