In short, it's a series of increasingly more difficult mathematical problems that, due to their nature, require the use of programming to solve the equation, except perhaps for the first few.
Each problem can be solved by a computer in under 60 seconds by an average PC, given that you can write a program to do so. It starts with simple problems like:
And ends with insanely complex problems like:If we list all the natural numbers below 10 that are multiples of 3 or 5, we get 3, 5, 6 and 9. The sum of these multiples is 23.
Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 or 5 below 1000.
There are 207 problems in all (above are problems #1 and #202).Three mirrors are arranged in the shape of an equilateral triangle, with their reflective surfaces pointing inwards. There is an infinitesimal gap at each vertex of the triangle through which a laser beam may pass.
Label the vertices A, B and C. There are 2 ways in which a laser beam may enter vertex C, bounce off 11 surfaces, then exit through the same vertex: one way is shown below; the other is the reverse of that.
There are 80840 ways in which a laser beam may enter vertex C, bounce off 1000001 surfaces, then exit through the same vertex.
In how many ways can a laser beam enter at vertex C, bounce off 12017639147 surfaces, then exit through the same vertex?
The problems can be solved in pretty much any type of programming code as long as it can run the basic math—even plain old JavaScript can be used to solve these. (Personally, due to familiarity, I've started them using Visual Basic. It appears many of the geeks who have visited the site have done them in Assembly. o_O) Any geeks up to the challenge?
