Background:
I originally posted this question last night, and received backlash on its vagueness. I have since consulted many personnel concerning not only the wording of the problem, but also its complexity (which is not O(1)). This programming problem is an evil spin on an Amazon interview question.
Question:
Given a String of randomly concatenated integers [0, 250), 0 to 250 exclusive, there is ONE number missing in the sequence. Your job is to write a program that will calculate this missing number. There are no other missing numbers in the sequence besides the one, and that is what makes this problem so difficult, and possibly computationally hard.
Doing this problem by hand on smaller Strings, such as examples 1 and 2 below are obviously very easy. Conversely, computing a missing number on incredibly large datasets involving three-digit or four-digit numbers would be incredibly difficult. The idea behind this problem is to construct a program that will do this process FOR you.
Important Information:
One thing that appeared as rather confusing when I posted this problem last night was: what exactly a missing number is defined as. A missing number is the number INSIDE of the range specified above; NOT necessarily the digit. In example 3, you will see that the missing number is 9, even though it appears in the sequence. There are 3 places the DIGIT 9 will appear in a series of [0, 30): “9”, “19”, and “29”. Your objective is to differentiate between these, and discover that 9 is the missing NUMBER (inside of example 3). In other words, the tricky part lies in finding out which sequences of digits are complete and which belong to other numbers.
Input:
The input is a String S, containing integers from 0 to 249 inclusive, or 0 to 250 exclusive (in other words, [0, 250)). These integers, as stated above, are scrambled up to create a random sequence. There are NO delimiters (“42, 31, 23, 44”), or padding 0’s (003076244029002); the problems are exactly as described in the examples. It is guaranteed that there is only 1 solution in the actual problems. Multiple solutions are not permitted for these.
Winning Criteria:
Whoever has the fastest, and lowest memory usage will be the winner. In the miraculous event that a time ties, lower memory will be used for the time breaker. Please list Big O if you can!
Examples:
Examples 1 and 2 have a range of [0, 10)
Examples 3 and 4 have a range of [0, 30)
(Examples 1-4 are just for demonstration. Your program needn't to handle them.)
Examples 5 has a range of [0, 250)
1. 420137659
- Missing number => 8
2. 843216075
- Missing number => 9
3. 2112282526022911192312416102017731561427221884513
- Missing number => 9
4. 229272120623131992528240518810426223161211471711
- Missing number => 15
5. 11395591741893085201244471432361149120556162127165124233106210135320813701207315110246262072142253419410247129611737243218190203156364518617019864222241772384813041175126193134141008211877147192451101968789181153241861671712710899168232150138131195104411520078178584419739178522066640145139388863199146248518022492149187962968112157173132551631441367921221229161208324623423922615218321511111211121975723721911614865611197515810239015418422813742128176166949324015823124214033541416719143625021276351260183210916421672722015510117218224913320919223553222021036912321791591225112512304920418584216981883128105227213107223142169741601798025
- Missing number => 71
Test Data:
Problem 1: 6966410819610521530291368349682309217598570592011872022482018312220241246911298913317419721920718217313718080857232177134232481551020010112519172652031631113791105122116319458153244261582135510090235116139611641267691141679612215222660112127421321901862041827745106522437208362062271684640438174315738135641171699510421015199128239881442242382361212317163149232839233823418915447142162771412092492141987521710917122354156131466216515061812273140130240170972181176179166531781851152178225242192445147229991613515911122223419187862169312013124150672371432051192510724356172282471951381601241518410318414211212870941111833193145123245188102
Problem 2: 14883423514241100511108716621733193121019716422221117630156992324819917158961372915140456921857371883175910701891021877194529067191198226669314940125152431532281961078111412624224113912011621641182322612016512820395482371382385363922471472312072131791925510478122073722091352412491272395020016194195116236186596116374117841971602259812110612913254255615723013185162206245183244806417777130181492211412431591541398312414414582421741482461036761192272120204114346205712198918190242184229286518011471231585109384415021021415522313136146178233133168222201785172212108182276835832151134861116216716910511560240392170208215112173234136317520219
Problem 3: 1342319526198176611201701741948297621621214122224383105148103846820718319098731271611601912137231471099223812820157162671720663139410066179891663131117186249133125172622813593129302325881203242806043154161082051916986441859042111711241041590221248711516546521992257224020174102234138991752117924457143653945184113781031116471120421331506424717816813220023315511422019520918114070163152106248236222396919620277541101222101232171732231122301511263822375920856142187182152451585137352921848164219492411071228936130762461191564196185114910118922611881888513917712153146227193235347537229322521516718014542248813617191531972142714505519240144
Problem 4: 2492402092341949619347401841041875198202182031161577311941257285491521667219229672211881621592451432318618560812361201172382071222352271769922013259915817462189101108056130187233141312197127179205981692121101632221732337196969131822110021512524417548627103506114978204123128181211814236346515430399015513513311152157420112189119277138882021676618323919018013646200114160165350631262167910238144334214230146151171192261653158161213431911401452461159313720613195248191505228186244583455139542924222112226148941682087115610915344641782142472102436810828123731134321131241772242411722251997612923295223701069721187182171471055710784170217851
N
, not just250
? / What about the232
issue? All possibilities or one any? I realize that you knew about that issue, but I find it unclear in the question. / If this is fastest-code there must be a way to measure them. Of course running on a supercomputer is different from running on an old computer. / Because no one said that, -- Welcome to PPCG! \$\endgroup\$N
to, say, 1000 or 10000. \$\endgroup\$