Euler Problem 1 Python Solution
I wanted to start playing with python a bit more so I thought I’d take a look at the project Euler problems. The first problem is to find the sum of all numbers between 1 and 999 that are divisible by 3 or 5.
After solving it and looking on the forums I was kind of shocked that most solutions used loops, iterating over every number between 1 and 1000. A more efficient solution is to use the sum of an arithmetic progression. Which I would have thought is high school Maths (I still needed Wikipedia to prompt me, ho hum). Anyway Here’s my solution:
max = 999 maxthree = ((max/3)*3) + 0.0 maxfive = ((max/5)*5) + 0.0 maxfifteen = ((max/15)*15) + 0.0 multhree = ((maxthree/3)/2)*(3+maxthree) mulfive = ((maxfive/5)/2)*(5+maxfive) mulfifteen = ((maxfifteen/15)/2)*(15+maxfifteen) print multhree + mulfive - mulfifteen
I’d guess about 95% of the solutions used loops.
This is my favourite solution from the forum:
Here is a solution that is reasonably efficient but it works for any list of possible factors, without being overcomplicated (in Java). It took me about 50 minutes to write it.
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.lang.Math;
public class Euler1 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Eueler project problem 1
// find the sum of all numbers less than N (1000) that are multiples of a given list of factors (3 and 5)
// the program seeks a balance between speed, memory use, generality and program simplicity
int[] factors = {3,5};
int N = 1000;
int sum = computeSum (factors, N);
System.err.println(sum);
}
public static int computeSum (int[] factors, int N) {
// efficient calculation using the fact that the pattern of multiples repeats
// use the produce of the factors as the period length,
// the least common multiple would be more efficient but complicates the program
int M = 1;
for(int j=0; j<factors.length; j++) {
int f = factors[j];
M *= f;
}
int k = (N-1)/M; // number of repeated periods
int r = (N-1)%M+1; // remaining length;
// use average of sum over first and last period time k, plus sum over the remaining numbers
int sum = (bruteSum(factors, 1, M+1)+bruteSum(factors,(k-1)*M+1,k*M+1))*k/2 + bruteSum(factors, k*M+1, N);
return sum;
}
public static int bruteSum(int[] factors, int N0, int N1) {
// computes the answer using a straightforward but inefficient brute force method
int sum = 0;
for(int i=N0; i<N1; i++) {
boolean isAMultiple = false;
for(int j=0; j<factors.length; j++) {
int f = factors[j];
if(i%f == 0) isAMultiple = true;
}
if(isAMultiple) {
sum += i;
}
}
return sum;
}
}
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