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>

Solve

Solution Stats

32 Solutions
8 Solvers

Last Solution submitted on Oct 14, 2022

Last 200 Solutions

Problem Recent Solvers8

Problem Tags

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!

Problem 46040. Solve a Weird Calculator puzzle

Solution Stats

Last 200 Solutions

Problem Recent Solvers8

Suggested Problems

More from this Author185

Problem Tags

Community Treasure Hunt

Problem 46040. Solve a Weird Calculator puzzle

Solution Stats

Last 200 Solutions

Problem Recent Solvers8

Suggested Problems

More from this Author185

Problem Tags

Community Treasure Hunt

Players