I think we need to keep working on this. The ^3 (Cubed) solution breaks down. Check this example:

NUM.......Hund..........Ten..........One....H^3+T^3+O^3
006...........0..............0..............6..............216
060...........0..............6..............0..............216
345...........3..............4..............5..............216
354...........3..............5..............4..............216
435...........4..............3..............5..............216
453...........4..............5..............3..............216
534...........5..............3..............4..............216
543...........5..............4..............3..............216
600...........6..............0..............0..............216
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

The sort method doesn't break down. It does work!!

Now, as far as the calc-method, you're right. As I said in the post, I didn't brute force through all the possible iterations...

006, 600 and 060 is the same an we want them to match, same with 345, 453 etc.. but we don't want 345 & 600 to match.

I do believe we are on the right track here to come up with a pure mathematical solution though. We are going to need to perform some functon on each of the digits and then sum/mutliply them or perform some opertion on that as a whole. Perhaps simply raising each digit to a higher power ^4 will do the trick. You might even want to perform some other function such as a log().

To prove any function we come up with, we are going to have to write a brute force algorithm to check all possible combinations. Once that is done, we can plug in any formula we come up with and test it.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

A fourth power ^4 solution doesn't work either. Consider these numbers:

NUM......Hund........Ten........One.....H^4+T^4+O^4
247..........2............4............7............2673
274..........2............7............4............2673
366..........3............6............6............2673
427..........4............2............7............2673
472..........4............7............2............2673
636..........6............3............6............2673
663..........6............6............3............2673
724..........7............2............4............2673
742..........7............4............2............2673

247 and 366 shouldn't match
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

Have you already written a proc to brute force all the combinations?

If so, just start plugging in functions until you find one that works. I'll bet there are plenty that do..

Just keep increasing the power or instead of summing the digits, multiply them together. Maybe using sqr roots or logs will do the trick. We just need to stumble on one that works.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."








Last edited by Gadget Wizard on Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

good news. the digits raised to the 5th power generates a unique number.
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

Well, there ya go. I kinda felt as the power increased, the numbers would grow large enough to make the sums unique.

Good work RB!! You could have went to Carolina.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

Hear! Hear! The final digit of a 5th power relates to the original digit. Maybe that's it! Good work, RB. I would venture to guess that a 9th power would do the same, but not the 7th.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

Good work! Someone care to explain what this will do and why for all us non excel folk.

Oregonian wrote:

The final digit of a 5th power relates to the original digit. Maybe that's it!

You might be on to something there O. Good thinking!!

I knew there was enough brain powered geekiness around here to figure it out.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

GW wrote:

Good work RB!! You could have went to Carolina.

Maybe I could have went to Carolina, but if I had gone to Clemson I would have learned the difference between went and gone.

Sorry GW, that was unkind, but I couldn't help myself.
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RunnerBiker ¿
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." - Will Rogers

Spoken like a true yankee.
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

There is a place in the world for us Yankees, too. Well maybe.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein

That's true!! Some of my best friends are Yankees, and well, Clemson graduates.

...and I did kinda step into that one.

If you peeps pointed out all my spelling and grammar mistakes, that would be a big job.

They just ain't no dad gum telling what this old southern boy might have done gone and posted 'round here.

My pet peave is when people use your for you're. I don't know why, but that drives me crazy!!
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"Linux is more than an OS, it's a state of mind."

Well we could just use "yer" and it would serve for both.

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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. - Robert Heinlein