35
\$\begingroup\$

Let n and b be positive integers larger than 1.

Output the distance from n to the next power of b.

For n=5 and b=3, the next power of 3 from 5 is 9 (3^2 = 9), so the output is 9 - 5 = 4.

For n=8 and b=2, the next power of 2 from 8 is 16 (2^4 = 16), so the output is 16 - 8 = 8. Note that n is a power of 2 in this example.

Testcases:

  n b output
212 2 44
563 5 62
491 5 134
424 3 305
469 8 43
343 7 2058
592 7 1809
289 5 336
694 3 35
324 5 301
  2 5 3

This is . Shortest answer in bytes wins. Standard loopholes apply.

\$\endgroup\$
0

44 Answers 44

17
\$\begingroup\$

Jelly,  4  3 bytes

ạæċ

A dyadic link taking n on the left and b on the right and returning the result.

Try it online!

How?

ạæċ - Link: number n, number b | n,b ∈ ℕ
 æċ - ceiling n to the next power of b
ạ   - absolute difference between n and that
\$\endgroup\$
5
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ Crossed out 4 is still regular 4 ;( \$\endgroup\$
    – Uriel
    Jun 19, 2017 at 13:53
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ @Uriel But   ;) \$\endgroup\$
    – hyper-neutrino
    Jun 19, 2017 at 13:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ tfw your initially initial thought is "oh it's æċ!" instead of "oww this is sooo hard..." \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ Oh it might not exist in the history, but I did change from a 4 byter. It was æċ_⁸ \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JonathanAllan Since it wasn't in the history it didn't make sense and that's why I edited that out. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:11
8
\$\begingroup\$

x86-64 Assembly (Windows x64 Calling Convention), 14 13 bytes

An inefficient (but svelte!) iterative approach (with credit to @Neil for inspiration):

               HowFarAway PROC
6A 01             push   1
58                pop    rax         ; temp = 1
               Loop:
0F AF C2          imul   eax, edx    ; temp *= b
39 C8             cmp    eax, ecx
72 F9             jb     Loop        ; keep looping (jump) if temp < n
29 C8             sub    eax, ecx    ; temp -= n
C3                ret                ; return temp
               HowFarAway ENDP

The above function takes two integer parameters, n (passed in the ECX register) and b (passed in the EDX register), and returns a single integer result (in the EAX register). To call it from C, you would use the following prototype:

unsigned HowFarAway(unsigned n, unsigned b);

This is limited to the range of a 32-bit integer. It can be easily modified to support 64-bit integers by using the full long registers, but it would cost more bytes to encode those instructions. :-)

\$\endgroup\$
5
  • \$\begingroup\$ So, you can't set eax to 1 in fewer than 4 bytes? \$\endgroup\$
    – Neil
    Jun 19, 2017 at 15:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ Hmm… Not in any of the normal ways that a sane programmer would use, but you could push 1+pop rax in only 3 bytes. But… then you wouldn't have to skip the multiplication, so that would still be a reasonable savings because you could drop the jmp. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 15:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ Ah, I knew there had to be a way to golf a byte off! \$\endgroup\$
    – Neil
    Jun 19, 2017 at 15:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ You can do the same with the SysV calling convention on Linux, with a TIO demo. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 20, 2017 at 0:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ Of course you can. You can do it with any calling convention that passes at least the first two integer parameters in registers. System V, Win x64, Win32 __fastcall, etc. The registers just change, and I had to pick one. Coin came up "Windows". \$\endgroup\$ Jun 20, 2017 at 10:51
6
\$\begingroup\$

C (gcc), 39 35 bytes

New undefined behavior thanks to Erik

f(n,b,i){for(i=b;b<=n;b*=i);n=b-n;}

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
5
  • \$\begingroup\$ f(n,b,i){for(i=b;b<n;b*=i);n=b-n;} saves 5 bytes, and is supported by gcc \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ @EriktheOutgolfer why not b-=n? \$\endgroup\$
    – Leaky Nun
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ @LeakyNun Because it's the first argument you need to save the return value to. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ Umm, you didn't update the code. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ Can you do b-=n if you swap the order of b and n? \$\endgroup\$
    – Adalynn
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:33
6
\$\begingroup\$

Dyalog APL, 10 bytes

2 bytes saved thanks to @ZacharyT

⊢-⍨⊣*1+∘⌊⍟

Try it online!

Takes n as right argument and b as left argument.

Calculates b⌊logbn + 1⌋ - n.

\$\endgroup\$
9
  • \$\begingroup\$ Nice, I was just about to post this exact solution \$\endgroup\$
    – user41805
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KritixiLithos I had hard time with the floor trick. you think it could be made into a train? \$\endgroup\$
    – Uriel
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, it can: ⊣-⍨⊢*1+∘⌊⍟⍨. \$\endgroup\$
    – Adalynn
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ZacharyT nice one! \$\endgroup\$
    – Uriel
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ I get ⊢-⍨⊣*1+∘⌊⍟ for 10 bytes but with swapped arguments so that n is the right argument and b is the left argument. I used ZacharyT's trick of 1+∘⌊ to get it down this far. \$\endgroup\$
    – user41805
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:27
6
\$\begingroup\$

R, 38 34 bytes

pryr::f({a=b^(0:n)-n;min(a[a>0])})

Anonymous function. Stores all values of b to the power of everything in the range [0,n], subtracts n from each, subsets on positive values, and returns the min.

TIO has a non-pryr version, called as f(n,b); this version needs to be called as f(b,n).

Saved 4 bytes thanks to Jarko Dubbeldam, who then outgolfed me.

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • \$\begingroup\$ Nice, way shorter than the recursion I had in mind. \$\endgroup\$
    – JAD
    Jun 20, 2017 at 9:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ pryr::f({a=b^(0:n)-n;min(a[a>0])}) is a few bytes shorter. \$\endgroup\$
    – JAD
    Jun 20, 2017 at 9:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks. I've had bad luck using pryr::f when I define a new variable in the function; looks like it works here. \$\endgroup\$
    – BLT
    Jun 20, 2017 at 14:41
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ Hmm, it's always worth checking :) What annoys me is if you have something like sapply(x, sum) or whatever, that it adds sum to the arguments. \$\endgroup\$
    – JAD
    Jun 21, 2017 at 6:28
4
\$\begingroup\$

Cubix, 24 20 bytes

-4 bytes thanks to MickyT

Pwp.I|-.;)^0@O?|uq;<

Reads in input like n,b

Fits on a 2x2x2 cube:

    P w
    p .
I | - . ; ) ^ 0
@ O ? | u q ; <
    . .
    . .

Explanation:

I|I0 : read the input, push 0 (counter) to the stack

^w puts the IP to the right place for the loop:

  • Pp- : compute b^(counter), move n to top of stack, compute b^(counter) - n
  • ? : turn left if negative, straight if 0, right if positive
    • Positive: O@ : output top of stack (distance) and exit.
    • Negative : |? : proceed as if the top of the stack were zero
  • <;qu;) : point the IP in the right direction, pop the top of the stack (negative/zero number), move n to the bottom of the stack, u-turn, pop the top of the stack (b^(counter)) and increment the counter
  • IP is at ^w and the program continues.

Watch it online!

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Using your same procedure, just a different path Pwp.I|-.;)^0@O?|uq;< \$\endgroup\$
    – MickyT
    Jun 19, 2017 at 19:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MickyT genius! I feel like every time I submit a cubix answer, you come along and shave off four or five bytes... \$\endgroup\$
    – Giuseppe
    Jun 19, 2017 at 19:51
3
\$\begingroup\$

Haskell, 20 bytes

n%b=until(>n)(*b)1-n

Try it online!

until saves the day

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ Augh, I knew there must have been a builtin for that. Nice. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 20, 2017 at 15:02
3
\$\begingroup\$

R, 30 bytes

pryr::f(b^floor(log(n,b)+1)-n)

Evaluates to the function

function (b, n) 
b^floor(log(n, b) + 1) - n

Which takes the first power greater or equal than n, and then substracts n from that value.

Changed ceiling(power) to floor(power+1) to ensure that if n is a power of b, we take the next power.

\$\endgroup\$
1
2
\$\begingroup\$

05AB1E, 9 8 bytes

sLmʒ‹}α¬

Try it online!

Explanation

s         # swap order of the inputs
 L        # range [1 ... n]
  m       # raise b to each power
   ʒ‹}    # filter, keep only the elements greater than n
      α   # calculate absolute difference with n for each
       ¬  # get the first (smallest)
\$\endgroup\$
6
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ You beat me by a minute. That's exactly what I wrote, but I used ć instead of ¬. \$\endgroup\$
    – Riley
    Jun 19, 2017 at 13:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Riley: Also works with filter, but unfortunately doesn't save any bytes. \$\endgroup\$
    – Emigna
    Jun 19, 2017 at 13:58
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @Emigna unfortunately doesn't save any bytes *saves byte(s)* \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ @EriktheOutgolfer: Yes, well. It was an additional change utilizing the weird way implicit input works that saved a byte :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Emigna
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:01
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @carusocomputing: Yes. It actually saves a byte to have them in the "wrong" order as I can reuse n implicitly, both in the filter comparison and the absolute difference calculation. \$\endgroup\$
    – Emigna
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:33
2
\$\begingroup\$

Java (OpenJDK 8), 42 bytes

Based on @GovindParmar's C answer.

n->b->{for(int o=b;n>=b;b*=o);return b-n;}

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
2
\$\begingroup\$

MATL, 10 9 bytes

yy:YAn^w-

Try it online!

Explanation

Consider inputs 694 and 3 as an example.

y    % Implicitly take two inputs. Duplicate from below
     % STACK: 694, 3, 694
y    % Duplicate from below
     % STACK: 694, 3, 694, 3
:    % Range
     % STACK: 694, 3, 694, [1 2 3]
YA   % Base conversion (of 694 with "digits" given by [1 2 3]
     % STACK: 694, 3, [3 3 2 3 1 2]
n    % Number of elements
     % STACK: 694, 3, 6
^    % Power
     % 694, 729
w    % Swap
     % STACK: 729, 694
-    % Subtract. Implicitly display
^    % 35
\$\endgroup\$
2
\$\begingroup\$

JavaScript (ES6), 29 bytes

Very similar to Rick's approach but posted with his permission (and some help saving a byte).

n=>b=>g=(x=b)=>x>n?x-n:g(x*b)

Try it

f=
n=>b=>g=(x=b)=>x>n?x-n:g(x*b)
oninput=_=>o.value=f(+i.value)(+j.value)()
o.value=f(i.value=324)(j.value=5)()
*{font-family:sans-serif;}
input{margin:0 5px 0 0;width:50px;}
<label for=i>n: </label><input id=i type=number><label for=j>b: </label><input id=j type=number><label for=o>= </label><input id=o>

\$\endgroup\$
2
\$\begingroup\$

Mathematica, 24 bytes

#2^⌊1/#~Log~#2⌋#2-#&

thanks Martin

I/O

[343, 7]

2058

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • \$\begingroup\$ You can use 1/Log@## or #2~Log~#. Or even better swap the order of the inputs and use Log@##. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ And then #^Floor[...]# is shorter than #^(Floor[...]+1). And there's the Unicode operators for Floor as well. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ yes, yes of course.I'm working on all these.you are quick! \$\endgroup\$
    – ZaMoC
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ Don't forget Log@##! Actually, if you swap the argument order, #^⌊Log@##⌋#-#2& should be possible for -5 bytes (I think)! \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 16:05
2
\$\begingroup\$

C, 42 40 bytes

Thanks to commenter @Steadybox for the tip

o;p(n,b){for(o=b;n>=b;)b*=o;return b-n;}
\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ Using for instead of while saves two bytes: o;p(n,b){for(o=b;n>=b;)b*=o;return b-n;} \$\endgroup\$
    – Steadybox
    Jun 19, 2017 at 15:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ Suggest n/b instead of n>=b \$\endgroup\$
    – ceilingcat
    May 9, 2019 at 16:27
2
\$\begingroup\$

Japt, 16 8 bytes

This feels longer than it needs to be! That's a bit better!

nVpUìV l

Try it

nVpUìV l     :Implicit input of integers U=n & V=b
n            :Subtract U from
 Vp          :  Raise V to the power of
   UìV       :    Convert U to a base-V digit array
       l     :    Get the length
\$\endgroup\$
2
\$\begingroup\$

AWK, 34 32+2 bytes

{for(n=$2;n<=$1;n*=$2);}$0=n-$11

Try it online!

Requires the -M option for arbitrary precision to handle the 12345678901234567890 1000000 => 999987654321098765432110 case.

The non-loop version requires the same number of bytes:

$0=$2^int(log($1)/log($2)+1)-$1

After almost 5 years, saved 2 bytes in each formulation by removing unnecessary grouping symbols. Thanks @PaoloVlw

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • \$\begingroup\$ Aahhh... I see that I may not need the 2 bytes for the "large" answer, since I accidentally grabbed Toby Speight's inputs rather than the original inputs. Oh well. This should allow it to work for all cases. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 20, 2017 at 15:55
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ These save both versions 2 bytes each: {for(n=$2;n<=$1;n*=$2);}$0=n-$1 and $0=$2^int(log($1)/log($2)+1)-$1. \$\endgroup\$ May 1, 2022 at 3:36
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @PauloVlw It's nice to know that someone is still interested in AWK. :) \$\endgroup\$ May 3, 2022 at 18:27
2
+50
\$\begingroup\$

Desmos, 30 27 bytes

f(n,b)=b^{floor(log_bbn)}-n

Try It On Desmos

-3 thanks to @Aiden Chow and @Steffan

Gotta love using your favorite graphing calculator for code golf. Taken from the R answer.

\$\endgroup\$
1
2
\$\begingroup\$

Python 2,  42 41  35 bytes

Saved 6 thanks to loopy walt! (A superior recursive algorithm.)

f=lambda n,b:n<1or b*f(n/b,b)-(n%b)

A recursive function which repeatedly integer divides by b until that yields 0 (n<1) yielding 1 (well, True which works like 1) at the tail and multiplies back up by b removing the remainder after division by b at each step. That is, we subtract n from b^k in base b, "digit" by "digit".

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
5
  • \$\begingroup\$ tio.run/… is a bit shorter but having to output the result with format "%.0f" is probably cheating. \$\endgroup\$
    – rici
    Jun 19, 2017 at 19:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ @rici Nice, I think it may be OK to use floating point arithmetic. I'll add it as an alternative (another byte may be saved by switching forms due to b-n never being zero at the same time as n<b is true). \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 19:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ 35 bytes (Python2) I believe. \$\endgroup\$
    – loopy walt
    May 4, 2022 at 22:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Much better, thanks @loopywalt (I think I'd have posted as my own if I'd seen this and written that!) Do let me know if you think there is a clearer description or if I have any mistakes. \$\endgroup\$ May 5, 2022 at 19:01
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Not much glory to earn with very late answers... Re clarity, perhaps mention that we are basically subtracting (from b^k) n digit-by-digit in base b. \$\endgroup\$
    – loopy walt
    May 5, 2022 at 19:24
2
\$\begingroup\$

Vyxal, 8 bytes

ɾe'¹>;hε

Try it Online!

Port of 05AB1E.

How?

ɾe'¹>;hε
ɾ        # Inclusive range from one to (implicit) first input
 e       # For each element, push it to the power of the (implicit) second input
  '¹>;   # Filter for only elements greater than the first input
      h  # Get the first item
       ε # Get the absolute difference of the first item and the (implicit) first input
\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

JavaScript (ES6), 31 bytes

f=(n,b,i=b)=>b>n?b-n:f(n,b*i,i)

Test cases:

f=(n,b,i=b)=>b>n?b-n:f(n,b*i,i)

console.log(f(212, 2)) // 44
console.log(f(563, 5)) // 62
console.log(f(491, 5)) // 134
console.log(f(424, 3)) // 305
console.log(f(469, 8)) // 43
console.log(f(343, 7)) // 2058
console.log(f(592, 7)) // 1809
console.log(f(289, 5)) // 336
console.log(f(694, 3)) // 35
console.log(f(324, 5)) // 301

\$\endgroup\$
9
  • \$\begingroup\$ You can save a byte by currying (it didn't matter whether I tried currying both n and b or just n), because that saves you from having to pass n recursively. \$\endgroup\$
    – Neil
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks @Neil, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do that(?) \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ The two versions I came up with were n=>g=(b,p=b)=>p>n?p-n:g(b,p*b) and n=>b=>(g=p=>p>n?p-n:g(p*b))(b). \$\endgroup\$
    – Neil
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ Would f=(n,i)=>g=(b=i)=>b>n?b-n:g(b*i) work for 30 bytes? It would need to be called like so: f(324,5)(). EDIT: Ah, @Neil beat me to it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Shaggy
    Jun 19, 2017 at 14:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Neil, thanks, I need more practice with currying. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 14:42
1
\$\begingroup\$

Octave, 32 bytes

@(n,b)b^(fix(log(n)/log(b))+1)-n

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

Octave, 26 bytes

@(n,b)b^sum(b.^(0:n)<=n)-n

Verify all test cases!

\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

Ruby, 38 bytes

Two different approaches:

->(n,b){p b**(Math.log(n,b).to_i+1)-n}

Try it online!

->(n,b){p b**(0..n).find{|x|b**x>n}-n}

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

Haskell, 31 bytes

f n b=[b^x-n|x<-[1..],b^x>n]!!0

Try it online!

\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

Perl 6,  31 30  29 bytes

->\n,\b{(b,b* *...*>n).tail -n}

Test it (31)

->\n,\b{b**(log(n,b).Int+1)-n}

Test it (30)

{$^b**(log($^a,$b).Int+1)-$a}

Test it (29)

{($^b,$b* *...*>$^a).tail-$a}

Test it (29)

\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

PARI/GP, 26 24 bytes

f(n,b)=b^logint(b*n,b)-n
\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

Japt, 9 bytes

_q}a@nVpX

Test it online!

Explanation

_  q}a@  nVpX
Z{Zq}aX{UnVpX}  // Ungolfed
                // Implicit: U, V = input integers
     aX{     }  // For each integer X in [0...1e9), take
          VpX   //   V to the power of X
        Un      //   minus U,
Z{  }           // and return the first one Z where
  Zq            //   Math.sqrt(Z) is truthy.
                //   Math.sqrt returns NaN for negative inputs, and 0 is falsy, so this is
                //   truthy iff Z is positive. Therefore, this returns the first positive
                //   value of V**X - U.
                // Implicit: output result of last expression
\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ ... Wait. What? \$\endgroup\$
    – Shaggy
    Jun 19, 2017 at 17:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Shaggy I've added an explanation, hopefully this helps. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 19, 2017 at 19:41
1
\$\begingroup\$

Brachylog, 7 bytes

^ʰ↙X>₁-

Try it online!

Takes input as a list [b, n].

    >₁     n is strictly less than
^ ↙X       some power of
 ʰ         b,
      -    and their difference is
           the output.
\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

Forth (gforth), 45 bytes

: f >r 1 begin i * 2dup < until rdrop - abs ;

Try it online!

Code Explanation

: f          # start a new word definition
  >r         # store b on the return stack for quick access
  1          # create a counter to store powers of b
  begin      # start an indefinite loop
    i *      # multiply the counter by b
    2 dup <  # duplicate the counter and n. Check if n is less than the counter
  until      # if it is, end the loop
  rdrop      # remove b from the return stack
  - abs      # subtract and get absolute value (avoid negative)
;            # end the word definition
\$\endgroup\$
1
\$\begingroup\$

Husk, 6 bytes

≠Ω>¹*³

Try it online!

≠Ω>¹*³      # ¹ and ³ duplicate arguments ⁰ and ², so parses as:
≠Ω>⁰*²²⁰
            # now:
 Ω>⁰*²²     # Ω = Iterate function f until test result t is truthy, starting with x:
      ²     #     x is arg 2
    *²      #     f is *² = times arg 2, so iterating generates power series of arg 2
  >⁰        #     t is >⁰ = greater than arg 1  
            # then:
≠           # get the absolute difference to
       ⁰    # arg 1
\$\endgroup\$

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