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From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Silly programming problems
Message-ID: <79700028@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 89 01:45:00 GMT
References: <817@krafla.rhi.hi.is>
Lines: 26
Nf-ID: #R:krafla.rhi.hi.is:817:p.cs.uiuc.edu:79700028:000:959
Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Mar 18 19:45:00 1989


Here are some memorable problems from some high school programming
contests ten years ago.  About 1/5 of the entrants solved 7 problems
(all of them) in 3 hours:


1.  Compute 2^60 EXACTLY and print out the result (note: this can be
done cleverly using two or three 32-bit words, and manually shifting
the overflow to the second or third variable)

2.  Compute 1/(2^60) and print out the result.  [Next year's problem]

3.  Define a "perfect card deck shuffle".  Assume the cards are numbered
1..52.  Where is 13 after 2087 (or some huge number) of "perfect shuffles".

4.  Write a program to translate integers to roman numerals, and print
them (judge tests the program interactively)

5.  Compute the number of ways to make change for $1, $2, and/or $5,
using (whatever assumptions you want about legality of dollar bills).


If you have young contestants, remember to include a few "easy"
problems so nobody goes home unhappy.

Good luck with your contest!