3 Better estimation

## Better (although partial) result estimation:

This uses the same 10 * k**2 as the other estimation.

E(0, b) = 10 * b**2
E(1, b) = 10 * (10 * b**2)**2 = 10 * 100 * b**4 = 10**3 * b**4
E(2, b) = 10 * (10**3 * b**4)**2 = 10 * (10**6 * b**8) = 10**7 * b**8
E(a, b) = 10**(2**(a+1)-1) * b**(2**(a+1))


Under the previous estimation, it would be:

E(a, b) = 10**(a**2/a) * b**(2*a)


Which is significantly smaller than the actual value since it uses a**2 instead of 2**a for the 10 and uses a*2 instead of 2**a for the b.

## Better (although partial) result estimation:

This uses the same 10 * k**2 as the other estimation.

E(0, b) = 10 * b**2
E(1, b) = 10 * (10 * b**2)**2 = 10 * 100 * b**4 = 10**3 * b**4
E(2, b) = 10 * (10**3 * b**4)**2 = 10 * (10**6 * b**8) = 10**7 * b**8
E(a, b) = 10**(2**(a+1)-1) * b**(2**(a+1))


Under the previous estimation, it would be:

E(a, b) = 10**(a**2/a) * b**(2*a)


Which is significantly smaller than the actual value since it uses a**2 instead of 2**a for the 10 and uses a*2 instead of 2**a for the b.

2 Rough result estimation

# Python 3: 98 chars - ?, ≈ 10 ↑↑ 256

## Result estimation:

If we approximate the increasing step by lambda k: 10 * k**2, the function can be described as

E(n, C₁, C₂, ... Cᵥ) ≈ E(10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ, 10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₂²ⁿ, ... 10^(n²/2) ⋅ Cᵥ²ⁿ)
≈ E(10^((10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ)²/2) ⋅ C₂^(2n  ⋅ 10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ), ... )
≈ E(10^((10^n² ⋅ C₁⁴ⁿ)/2) ⋅ C₂^(2n  ⋅ 10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ), ... )


The relevant thing we're doing here is build up a tower of powers of ten, so the eventual score can be approximated as 10 ↑↑ 256.

# Python 3: 98 chars, ≈ 10 ↑↑ 256

## Result estimation:

If we approximate the increasing step by lambda k: 10 * k**2, the function can be described as

E(n, C₁, C₂, ... Cᵥ) ≈ E(10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ, 10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₂²ⁿ, ... 10^(n²/2) ⋅ Cᵥ²ⁿ)
≈ E(10^((10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ)²/2) ⋅ C₂^(2n  ⋅ 10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ), ... )
≈ E(10^((10^n² ⋅ C₁⁴ⁿ)/2) ⋅ C₂^(2n  ⋅ 10^(n²/2) ⋅ C₁²ⁿ), ... )


The relevant thing we're doing here is build up a tower of powers of ten, so the eventual score can be approximated as 10 ↑↑ 256.

1

# Python 3: 98 chars - ?

Using a variable-argument function:

E=lambda n,*C:E(*([~-n][:n]+[int("%d%d"%(k,k))for k in C]))if C else n;print(E(*range(ord('~'))))


Effectively, E decrements the first argument while increasing the rest of the arguments, except that instead of putting -1 in the arguments it drops the argument. Since every cycle either decrements the first argument or decreases the number of arguments, this is guaranteed to terminate. The increasing function used is int("%d%d"%(k,k)), which gives a result between k2 + 2*k and 10*k2 + k. My code does use the * symbol - but not as multiplication. It's used to work with variable numbers of arguments, which I think should follow the rules since the clear point of the rules was to restrict specific operations, not the symbols themselves.

Some examples of how large E gets quickly:

E(1,1) = 1111
E(0,1,1) = E(11,11) = (approx) 10^8191
E(1,1,1) = E(1111,1111) = (approx) 10^(10^335)
E(2,1,1) = E(11111111,11111111) = (approx) 10^(10^3344779)


Only the first two of those are runnable on my computer in a reasonable amount of time.

Then, E is invoked by E(*range(ord('~'))) - which means:

E(0,1,2,3,4,5, ... ,121,122,123,124,125)


I'm not entirely sure how large this is (I've been trying to approximate it to no avail) - but it's obvious that it's ~really~ big.

As an example, about twelve cycles in, the result is around: (technically a bit more than)

E(2**27211,2**27211,2**27212,2**27212,2**27212,2**27212,2**27213,2**27213,2**54423,2**54423,2**54423,2**54423,2**54423,2**54423,2**54423,2**54423,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54424,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54425,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**54426,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636,2**81636)