Problem 46040. Solve a Weird Calculator puzzle

Created by ChrisR

Solve Later

{"parts":[{"partUri":"/matlab/document.xml","contentType":"application/vnd.mathworks.matlab.code.document+xml","content":"<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><w:document xmlns:w=\"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main\"><w:body><w:p><w:pPr><w:pStyle w:val=\"text\"/><w:jc w:val=\"left\"/></w:pPr><w:r><w:t>The September 2012 issue of GAMES Magazine had a Weird Calculator puzzle by Erich Friedman. In this puzzle, the calculator has only four buttons: +13, -7,</w:t></w:r><w:r><w:t> </w:t></w:r><w:customXml w:element=\"equation\"><w:customXmlPr><w:attr w:name=\"displayStyle\" w:val=\"false\"/><w:attr w:name=\"altTextString\" w:val=\"x\"/></w:customXmlPr><w:r><w:t>\\times</w:t></w:r></w:customXml><w:r><w:t>2, and /3. The object is to add 1 to get from one number to another with the specified number of button presses. For example, if you were asked to get from 8 to 9 in two button presses, you could press </w:t></w:r><w:customXml w:element=\"equation\"><w:customXmlPr><w:attr w:name=\"displayStyle\" w:val=\"false\"/><w:attr w:name=\"altTextString\" w:val=\"x\"/></w:customXmlPr><w:r><w:t>\\times</w:t></w:r></w:customXml><w:r><w:t>2 and -7.</w:t></w:r></w:p><w:p><w:pPr><w:pStyle w:val=\"text\"/><w:jc w:val=\"left\"/></w:pPr><w:r><w:t>Write a function to solve the Weird Calculator puzzle. The input will be the starting number </w:t></w:r><w:r><w:rPr><w:rFonts w:cs=\"monospace\"/></w:rPr><w:t>a</w:t></w:r><w:r><w:t>, the desired result </w:t></w:r><w:r><w:rPr><w:rFonts w:cs=\"monospace\"/></w:rPr><w:t>b</w:t></w:r><w:r><w:t>, and the number n of button presses. The output should be a string with the buttons separated by a comma and a space. For the example above, the output should be</w:t></w:r></w:p><w:p><w:pPr><w:pStyle w:val=\"code\"/></w:pPr><w:r><w:t><![CDATA[*2, -7]]></w:t></w:r></w:p><w:p><w:pPr><w:pStyle w:val=\"text\"/><w:jc w:val=\"left\"/></w:pPr><w:r><w:t>Enjoy!</w:t></w:r></w:p></w:body></w:document>","relationship":null}],"relationships":[{"relationshipType":"http://schemas.mathworks.com/matlab/code/2013/relationships/document","target":"/matlab/document.xml","relationshipId":"rId1"}]}

<div style = "text-align: start; line-height: 20.4333px; min-height: 0px; white-space: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, monospace; font-style: normal; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: rgb(0, 0, 0); white-space: normal; "><div style="block-size: 217.433px; display: block; min-width: 0px; padding-block-start: 0px; padding-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 407px 108.717px; transform-origin: 407px 108.717px; vertical-align: baseline; "><div style="block-size: 84px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; margin-block-end: 9px; margin-block-start: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-inline-end: 10px; margin-inline-start: 4px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; perspective-origin: 384px 42px; text-align: left; transform-origin: 384px 42px; white-space: pre-wrap; margin-left: 4px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-right: 10px; "><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 365.5px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 365.5px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">The September 2012 issue of GAMES Magazine had a Weird Calculator puzzle by Erich Friedman. In this puzzle, the calculator has only four buttons: +13, -7,</span></span><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 1.95px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 1.95px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style=""> </span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;STIXGeneral&quot;, &quot;STIXGeneral-webfont&quot;, serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">×</span><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 234.133px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 234.133px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">2, and /3. The object is to add 1 to get from one number to another with the specified number of button presses. For example, if you were asked to get from 8 to 9 in two button presses, you could press </span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;STIXGeneral&quot;, &quot;STIXGeneral-webfont&quot;, serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">×</span><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 27.6167px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 27.6167px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">2 and -7.</span></span></div><div style="block-size: 63px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; margin-block-end: 9px; margin-block-start: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-inline-end: 10px; margin-inline-start: 4px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 2px; perspective-origin: 384px 31.5px; text-align: left; transform-origin: 384px 31.5px; white-space: pre-wrap; margin-left: 4px; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-right: 10px; "><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 280.583px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 280.583px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">Write a function to solve the Weird Calculator puzzle. The input will be the starting number </span></span><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 3.85px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 3.85px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, &quot;Courier New&quot;, monospace; ">a</span></span><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 59.5167px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 59.5167px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">, the desired result </span></span><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 3.85px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 3.85px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="font-family: Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, &quot;Courier New&quot;, monospace; ">b</span></span><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 29.1667px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 29.1667px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">, and the number n of button presses. The output should be a string with the buttons separated by a comma and a space. For the example above, the output should be</span></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); block-size: 20.4333px; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-end-end-radius: 4px; border-end-start-radius: 4px; border-start-end-radius: 4px; border-start-start-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; margin-block-end: 10px; margin-block-start: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-inline-end: 3px; margin-inline-start: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 10px; perspective-origin: 404px 10.2167px; transform-origin: 404px 10.2167px; margin-left: 3px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 3px; "><div style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-end-end-radius: 0px; border-end-start-radius: 0px; border-inline-end-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); border-inline-end-style: solid; border-inline-end-width: 0.833333px; border-inline-start-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); border-inline-start-style: solid; border-inline-start-width: 0.833333px; border-left-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0.833333px; border-right-color: rgb(233, 233, 233); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0.833333px; border-start-end-radius: 0px; border-start-start-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-block-size: 18px; min-height: 18px; padding-inline-start: 4px; padding-left: 4px; white-space: nowrap; "><span style="block-size: auto; border-inline-end-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-inline-end-style: none; border-inline-end-width: 0px; border-inline-start-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-inline-start-style: none; border-inline-start-width: 0px; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-inline-end: 45px; margin-right: 45px; min-block-size: 0px; min-height: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px; padding-left: 0px; perspective-origin: 23.1px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 23.1px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; white-space: pre; margin-right: 45px; "><span style="margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-right: 0px; ">*2, -7</span></span></div></div><div style="block-size: 21px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; margin-block-end: 9px; margin-block-start: 10px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-inline-end: 10px; margin-inline-start: 4px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; perspective-origin: 384px 10.5px; text-align: left; transform-origin: 384px 10.5px; white-space: pre-wrap; margin-left: 4px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-right: 10px; "><span style="block-size: auto; display: inline; margin-block-end: 0px; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-inline-end: 0px; margin-inline-start: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; perspective-origin: 19.45px 7.91667px; transform-origin: 19.45px 7.91667px; unicode-bidi: normal; "><span style="">Enjoy!</span></span></div></div></div>

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Problem 46040. Solve a Weird Calculator puzzle

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Problem 46040. Solve a Weird Calculator puzzle

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Last 200 Solutions

Problem Recent Solvers8

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More from this Author190

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