|
| 1 | +""" |
| 2 | +Project Euler Problem 206: https://projecteuler.net/problem=206 |
| 3 | +
|
| 4 | +Find the unique positive integer whose square has the form 1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8_9_0, |
| 5 | +where each “_” is a single digit. |
| 6 | +
|
| 7 | +----- |
| 8 | +
|
| 9 | +Instead of computing every single permutation of that number and going |
| 10 | +through a 10^9 search space, we can narrow it down considerably. |
| 11 | +
|
| 12 | +If the square ends in a 0, then the square root must also end in a 0. Thus, |
| 13 | +the last missing digit must be 0 and the square root is a multiple of 10. |
| 14 | +We can narrow the search space down to the first 8 digits and multiply the |
| 15 | +result of that by 10 at the end. |
| 16 | +
|
| 17 | +Now the last digit is a 9, which can only happen if the square root ends |
| 18 | +in a 3 or 7. From this point, we can try one of two different methods to find |
| 19 | +the answer: |
| 20 | +
|
| 21 | +1. Start at the lowest possible base number whose square would be in the |
| 22 | +format, and count up. The base we would start at is 101010103, whose square is |
| 23 | +the closest number to 10203040506070809. Alternate counting up by 4 and 6 so |
| 24 | +the last digit of the base is always a 3 or 7. |
| 25 | +
|
| 26 | +2. Start at the highest possible base number whose square would be in the |
| 27 | +format, and count down. That base would be 138902663, whose square is the |
| 28 | +closest number to 1929394959697989. Alternate counting down by 6 and 4 so the |
| 29 | +last digit of the base is always a 3 or 7. |
| 30 | +
|
| 31 | +The solution does option 2 because the answer happens to be much closer to the |
| 32 | +starting point. |
| 33 | +""" |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +def is_square_form(num: int) -> bool: |
| 37 | + """ |
| 38 | + Determines if num is in the form 1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8_9 |
| 39 | +
|
| 40 | + >>> is_square_form(1) |
| 41 | + False |
| 42 | + >>> is_square_form(112233445566778899) |
| 43 | + True |
| 44 | + >>> is_square_form(123456789012345678) |
| 45 | + False |
| 46 | + """ |
| 47 | + digit = 9 |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | + while num > 0: |
| 50 | + if num % 10 != digit: |
| 51 | + return False |
| 52 | + num //= 100 |
| 53 | + digit -= 1 |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | + return True |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +def solution() -> int: |
| 59 | + """ |
| 60 | + Returns the first integer whose square is of the form 1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8_9_0 |
| 61 | + """ |
| 62 | + num = 138902663 |
| 63 | + |
| 64 | + while not is_square_form(num * num): |
| 65 | + if num % 10 == 3: |
| 66 | + num -= 6 # (3 - 6) % 10 = 7 |
| 67 | + else: |
| 68 | + num -= 4 # (7 - 4) % 10 = 3 |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | + return num * 10 |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +if __name__ == "__main__": |
| 74 | + print(f"{solution() = }") |
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