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Project Euler

projecteuler.net

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Re: Project Euler

#71

Post by huherto »

b0b0b0b wrote: post #22

I love project euler, but I've come to the realization that its purpose is to beat programmers soundly about the head and neck with a big math stick. At work last week, we were working on project euler at lunch, and had the one CS PhD in our midst not jumped up and explained the chinese remainder theorem to us, we wouldn't have had a chance.

> had the one CS PhD in our midst not jumped up and explained the chinese remainder theorem to us, we wouldn't have had a chance.

I never had a PhD near by to get help from, but many problems involved doing research online about a theorem, sequence or some sort of mathematical concept.

Re: Project Euler

#72

Post by Kluny »

quenlinlom wrote: post #38
peeters wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same way. It was presented to me as a great way to learn new programming languages. But really it's challenging your ability to design algorithms, and overwhelmingly mathematics-related algorithms. (I'm not saying the site itself claims anything different). It doesn't heavily challenge you to advance past a most basic level of a programming language. For example, most Project Euler problems are solved in J…

What we need now is more focus towards females. Men are already sufficiently saturated in the maths/CS fields. What we need is to market the idea of maths as fun to more females.

As a woman, I would definitely use Project Euler more often if they came out with a pink version that was smaller and more ergonomic to suit my soft, feminine hands.

Re: Project Euler

#73

Post by gajomi »

dangoldin wrote: post #35
jboggan wrote: post #29

The best technical interview I ever had involved picking a random Project Euler problem in the hundreds and pair-programming our way through it. The CTO wrote his version in Python and I worked in Perl . . . he was astounded mine ran 8x faster. The same company also had regular hack night where everyone drinks a lot of Tecate, agress on a Project Euler problem and a language no one knows, and races. Fun times.

When I was conducting quantitative interviews I ended up doing the same thing. One of my favorite problems to give was 267 ( http://projecteuler.net/problem=267 ). It has a few "aha" moments but also requires coding to get it done.

Hey, thanks. This was a fun problem. I got a little bit obsessed though, and I wonder if it might be possible to finish the problem on pencil and paper. I am sure I can finish an approximate version, but I am not sure I can get 12 digits. Did you try something like this?

P.S. I must apologize for abstractly referring to a solution approach as "this", but I didn't want to create a spoiler in case anyone else had felt inspired.

Re: Project Euler

#74

Post by mildtrepidation »

Kluny wrote: post #72
quenlinlom wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What we need now is more focus towards females. Men are already sufficiently saturated in the maths/CS fields. What we need is to market the idea of maths as fun to more females.

As a woman, I would definitely use Project Euler more often if they came out with a pink version that was smaller and more ergonomic to suit my soft, feminine hands.

As a man with relatively small hands, I believe Project Euler should also have a smaller blue version that's more comfortable for me to use.

Re: Project Euler

#75

Post by collyw »

minimax wrote: post #19
gaius wrote: post #16

A dozen Project Euler solutions in a given language can be an excellent pre-interview candidate screening technique. Quite simple to check for plagiarism too, within reason.

In the same vein, spending a couple of hours working Project Euler questions before you go into an interview is a great way to warm up for the types of questions you tend to get in interviews but don't see as much during day-to-day programming.

I think the reason it is a poor choice for interview questions, is like you say, we "don't see [questions like these] during day to day programming".

Re: Project Euler

#76

Post by dangoldin »

gajomi wrote: post #73
dangoldin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was conducting quantitative interviews I ended up doing the same thing. One of my favorite problems to give was 267 ( http://projecteuler.net/problem=267 ). It has a few "aha" moments but also requires coding to get it done.

Hey, thanks. This was a fun problem. I got a little bit obsessed though, and I wonder if it might be possible to finish the problem on pencil and paper. I am sure I can finish an approximate version, but I am not sure I can get 12 digits. Did you try something like this? P.S. I must apologize for abstractly referring to a solution approach as "this", but I didn't want to create a spoiler in case anyone else had felt…

I wasn't able to do it with pen and paper and suspect it's not possible. The 1000 flips and the 1 billion is arbitrary so it seems you'd always have to work with real numbers. I may be completely wrong though.

Re: Project Euler

#77

Post by pimentel »

cevn wrote: post #49
b0b0b0b wrote: post #22

I love project euler, but I've come to the realization that its purpose is to beat programmers soundly about the head and neck with a big math stick. At work last week, we were working on project euler at lunch, and had the one CS PhD in our midst not jumped up and explained the chinese remainder theorem to us, we wouldn't have had a chance.

I have to agree that the math is a bit too much. If you feel like doing algorithms / data structures work, though, perhaps leetcode will appeal to you: http://oj.leetcode.com/

I liked the sound of leetcode, but I see the way to answer is with code (C++/Java) instead of a value answer. That ruins it for me.

I want to play with new programming languages, and see if the output is correct while I'm at it.

Re: Project Euler

#79

Post by coherentpony »

wanda wrote: post #70
quenlinlom wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What we need now is more focus towards females. Men are already sufficiently saturated in the maths/CS fields. What we need is to market the idea of maths as fun to more females.

As a female math grad and CS postgrad, I would like to say firstly that you have successfully trolled me. I do hereby take your bait. Now for the points I would like to make, primarily for the benefit of the few who actually think as you claim to think: Women are actually similar to men in a number of novel ways. We have eyes, and those eyes are intricately connected to very powerful and compact organic computers—cap…

Holy shit, that was fucking incredible. This comment made my day. Incredibly humorous and well written response.

Re: Project Euler

#80

Post by dsil »

gajomi wrote: post #73
dangoldin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was conducting quantitative interviews I ended up doing the same thing. One of my favorite problems to give was 267 ( http://projecteuler.net/problem=267 ). It has a few "aha" moments but also requires coding to get it done.

Hey, thanks. This was a fun problem. I got a little bit obsessed though, and I wonder if it might be possible to finish the problem on pencil and paper. I am sure I can finish an approximate version, but I am not sure I can get 12 digits. Did you try something like this? P.S. I must apologize for abstractly referring to a solution approach as "this", but I didn't want to create a spoiler in case anyone else had felt…

This thread is about solving them using pen and paper:

http://forum.projecteuler.net/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=1982

I don't see this problem listed, but I didn't look through the whole thread.

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