[Community Puzzle] Balanced ternary computer: encode

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Fayras · August 28, 2018, 8:56pm

Hell everyone. I am a noob in programming still. Now I’m stuck at puzzle “Balanced ternary computer: encode”. Actually having trouble about understanding the task.
At first we have ternary numeral system, which is based on numbers (0, 1 and 2) and after some attempts I suppose this encoding table:
{ 2: ‘1’,
1: ‘T’,
0: ‘0’, }
Some algorithm of mine works with tests 3 and 4 but still fails with tests 1 and 2.

have now idea about encoding input 8 to expected “10T”. I have “11” on the output
the same dead end about input -15 and expected “T110”. And my output is “-T10”.
Can anybody explain the encoding algorithm for me please?
Thanks anyway.

java_coffee_cup · August 29, 2018, 5:12am

Google should bring you to suitable wiki pages.
A quick calculation, base3’s value for 4 digits are 27, 9, 3, 1
so that 10T means 19 + 1-1 = 8
and also that T110 = 27*-1 + 91 + 31 = -15

Fayras · October 19, 2018, 5:26pm

Sorry, still missing the point of task.
How in two steps of

the result contains 3 symbols of

?
And back to text of task, about 6

And correct me, if I’m wrong: in basic ternary numerics are [0, 1, 2] and according to task it should become [T, 0, 1].
I got the first symbol for result string. Don’t want to spoil it here. And don’t know how to get the rest in correct order and quantity.

java_coffee_cup · October 22, 2018, 4:53am

Perhaps starting with very basic examples first.
You asked why Decimal 8 equals “10T”.
Assume you know why there is a sequence 81, 27, 9, 3, 1. Here I only need [9, 3, 1].

“1” means 1 * 9
“0” means 0 * 3
“T” means T * 1 = -1 * 1
Sum the results, becomes 9-1 = 8.

Let me know if the above is still puzzling you.

yoles · February 17, 2019, 8:14pm

Hello,

Please do you know where is the problem with my code, it pass all the tests but I don’t get 100%.

It seems I don’t have a minor error in my code.
It seems I have considered all the cases (I have checked the limit values).
It seems I haven’t hardcoded.

Thanks in advance.

OptiPanda · February 17, 2019, 8:59pm

I’ve made a test with my code, i did from -100 to 100 and I have those error with your code :

i / your code / my code

-40 / 0TTTT / TTTT
-13 / 0TTT / TTT
-4 / 0TT / TT
-1 / 0T / T
0 / 0 /
1 / 01 / 1
4 / 011 / 11
13 / 0111 / 111
40 / 01111 / 1111

I think what’s wrong is pretty obvious

yoles · February 17, 2019, 9:26pm

Thanks for you answer but are you serious ? Test it in CodinGame, you’ll never see this error. 100% pass through the IDE but only 50% is validate. This would be impossible with this error, I think.

OptiPanda · February 17, 2019, 9:58pm

The IDE does not have all the cases as you’ll see. to try it i did a for loop from -100 to 100. Pass the value to your code and to mine. To fix the issue you just have to remove the first zero of your output !

yoles · February 17, 2019, 10:47pm

It’s ok, many thanks, I just had to change "<= " by “<” in a condition and need to treat 0 separately

Xispa · November 11, 2019, 12:15pm

Hi guys,

I am stuck in this puzzle (coding it in C)! My code passes all tests but when I submit, there is one test I am not passing (the 3rd one). Is there a way to know what value is tested for test n°3 (I don’t what to hardcode the solution but just know what values are failing)? Or does anybody want to check my code to see and tell me what is wrong with it ?

nicola · November 11, 2019, 4:50pm

Maybe your ints are coded in only one byte.

Xispa · November 12, 2019, 9:46pm

I used the type ‘int’, so coded over 4 bytes, and I tried changing it to ‘long’ did not solve it…

Foxxpy · November 20, 2019, 9:29am

Hello everyone.

I come here to share one of my problem. All tests pass in the IDE, but not in the validator.

Here is a screen of my methodology to solve this exercise. For a given number, i calculate its index in a range between sum_of_power(3i) and sum_of_power(3(i+1)). The index is equal to the number minus the sum of the power of 3 to the index i.

Once I have the index, for each power of 3 I calculate : (index%3i) / 3i.
I know that if this calculus gives me a number equals to 0 or greather than 2/3, then for this unit it is a “T” if n < 0 or a “1” if n > 0.
If this calculus give me a number inferior or equals to 1/3, then for this unit it is a “1” if n < 0 or a “T” if n > 0.
Else, this unit is equal to 0.
This is all summed up on my screen above.

I obtain everything right with this algorithm :