Express a number - a modern "Des Chiffres et des Lettres"

Question

Express a number

Back in the 60s, the French invented the TV game show "Des Chiffres et des Lettres" (Digits & Letters). The goal of the Digits-part of the show was to come as close as you can to a certain 3-digit target number, using some semi-randomly selected numbers. The contestants could use the following operators:

• concatenation (1 and 2 is 12)
• addition (1 + 2 is 3)
• subtraction (5 - 3 = 2)
• division (8 / 2 = 4); division is only allowed if the result is a natural number
• multiplication (2 * 3 = 6)
• parentheses, to override the regular precedence of operations: 2 * ( 3 + 4 ) = 14

Each given number can only be used once or not at all.

For example, the target number 728 can be matched exactly with the numbers: 6, 10, 25, 75, 5 and 50 with the following expression:

75 * 10 - ( ( 6 + 5 ) * ( 50 / 25 ) ) = 750 - ( 11 * 2 ) = 750 - 22 = 728

In this code challenge, your are given the task to find an expression as close as possible to a certain target number. Since we're living in the 21st century, we'll introduce bigger target numbers and more numbers to work with than back in the 60s.

Rules

• Allowed operators: concatenation, +, -, /, *, ( and )
• The concatenation operator has no symbol. Just concatenate the numbers.
• There is no "inverse concatenation". 69 is 69 and can't be split in a 6 and a 9.
• The target number is a positive integer and has a maximum of 18 digits.
• There are at least two numbers to work with and a maximum of 99 numbers. These numbers are also positive integers with a maximum of 18 digits.
• It is possible (actually quite probably) that the target number can't be expressed in terms of the numbers and the operators. The goal is to get as close as possible.
• The program should finish in a reasonable time (a few minutes on a modern desktop PC).
• Standard loopholes apply.
• Your program may not be optimized for the test set in the "scoring" section of this puzzle. I reserve the right to change the test set if I suspect anyone violating this rule.
• This is not a codegolf.

Input

The input consists of an array of numbers that can be formatted in any convenient way. The first number is the target number. The rest of the numbers are the numbers you should work with to form the target number.

Output

The requirements for the output are:

• It should be a string that consists of:
  • any subset of the input numbers (except the target number)
  • any number of operators
• I prefer the output to be single line without spaces, but if you must, you may add spaces and newlines as you see fit. They will be ignored in the controlling program.
• The output should be a valid mathematical expression.

Examples

For readability, all these examples have an exact solution and each input number is used exactly once.

Input: 1515483, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
Output: 111*111*(111+11+1)

Input: 153135, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Output: 123*(456+789)

Input: 8888888888, 9, 9, 9, 99, 99, 99, 999, 999, 999, 9999, 9999, 9999, 99999, 99999, 99999, 1
Output: 9*99*999*9999-9999999-999999-99999-99999-99999-9999-999-9-1

Input: 207901, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0
Output: 1+2*(3+4)*(5+6)*(7+8)*90

Input: 34943, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 Output: 1+2*(3+4*(5+6*(7+8*90))) But also valid output is: 34957-6-8

Scoring

The penalty score of a program is the sum of the relative errors of the expressions for the testset below.

For example if the target value is 125 and your expression gives 120, your penalty score is abs( 1 - 120/125 ) = 0,04.

The program with the lowest score (lowest total relative error) wins. If two programs finish equally, the first submission wins.

Finally, the testset (8 cases):

14142, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
48077691, 6, 9, 66, 69, 666, 669, 696, 699, 966, 969, 996, 999
333723173, 3, 3, 3, 33, 333, 3333, 33333, 333333, 3333333, 33333333, 333333333
589637567, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
8067171096, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113, 127, 131, 137, 139, 149, 151, 157, 163, 167, 173, 179, 181, 191, 193, 197, 199
78649377055, 0, 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56, 72, 90, 110, 132, 156, 182, 210, 240, 272, 306, 342, 380, 420, 462, 506, 552, 600, 650, 702, 756, 812, 870, 930, 992
792787123866, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181, 6765, 10946, 17711, 28657, 46368, 75025, 121393, 196418, 317811, 514229, 832040, 1346269, 2178309, 3524578, 5702887, 9227465, 14930352, 24157817, 39088169
2423473942768, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000, 100000, 2000000, 5000000, 10000000, 20000000, 50000000

Previous similar puzzles

After creating this puzzle and posting it on the sandbox, I noticed something similar (but not the same!) in two previous puzzles: here (no solutions) and here. This puzzle is somewhat different, because it introduces the concatenation operator, I don't seek and exact match and I like to see strategies for coming close to the solution without brute force. I think it is challenging.

Answer 1

C++17, score .0086

This program has non-deterministic penalty score due to thread races, so I'm declaring based on an average of three runs, each of which handled the test suite in under a minute:

score 0.000071 for 14(11*13) = 14143
score 0.000019 for (696699+66)*69 = 48076785
score 0.000069 for 333333+333333333+33333 = 333699999
score 0.000975 for 5(1((((555555255-1-1-4-5-5-5-5-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-5-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-5)/2*3/2-2)/2*3+2+1+1+1+1-1-1)/2*2/2/2/2)/2) = 589062470
score 0.000462 for (((199181197*41-193-191-179-173-167-163-157-151-149-139-137-131-127-113-109-107-103-101-97-89-83-79-73-71-67-61-59-53-47-43-17-3)/5*7+23)/2/11*13+19)/31*37 = 8063447296
score 0.000118 for (992930870*72+812+756+702+650+600+552+506+462+420+380+342-42-56-182-12-210-156-90-20-272-30-6-306)/240*132*2 = 78640130184
score 0.000512 for (((317811*832040*3-39088169-24157817-14930352-9227465-5702887-2178309-1346269-3524578-514229-196418-121393-17711-233-75025-46368-89-28657-4181-10946-6765-34-987-2584-13-610-8-1)/2-377-144)/5-1597)1 = 793193194211
score 0.005725 for 2(20((120000000*20000+50000000+10000000+5000000+2000000+100000+50000+10000+5000+2000-500-1000)/50)/5)+200+100+10 = 2409600268972
total score = .007951

real    0m57.876s
user    4m24.396s
sys     0m0.684s

score 0.000071 for 14(11*13) = 14143
score 0.000019 for (696699+66)*69 = 48076785
score 0.000069 for 333333+333333333+33333 = 333699999
score 0.001675 for (3((((((((555555455+5+5+5+5-1-1-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-1-4-4-4-4-5-3-3-3-3-3-4)/2*3/2-1)*2+5)/3*3+3)/2-3-3)/2*3/2*2+2)/2*2/2*3+2+1)/5/2)-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2)/2*3 = 590624943
score 0.000973 for ((199181197*41-193-191-179-173-167-163-157-151-149-139-137-131-127-113-107-101-59-97-79-3-71-67-83-2-47-37-73-89-103-19-11-29)/5*7+109-23)/61*43 = 8059325224
score 0.000118 for ((992930870*72+812+756+702+650+600+552+506+462+420+380+342+306+272+240+210+182-0-56-110-20-90)/2-42-156)/30*132/12*6 = 78640132296
score 0.000512 for (((317811*832040*3-39088169-24157817-14930352-9227465-5702887-3524578-514229-196418-2178309-1346269-121393-75025-28657-10946-233-46368-89-17711-2584-6765-610-4181-34-987-55-1)/2-8-144-377)/5-1597)1 = 793193194161
score 0.004734 for 2(20((120000000*20000+50000000+10000000+5000000+2000000+100000+50000+10000+5000+2000-100-1000-500)/200*50/10)/5) = 2412000335827
total score = .008171

real    0m45.636s
user    3m30.272s
sys     0m0.720s

score 0.000071 for 14(11*13) = 14143
score 0.000019 for (696699+66)*69 = 48076785
score 0.000069 for 333333+333333333+33333 = 333699999
score 0.002963 for 1(((((((555555555+5+5+5+5+5+5+4+4+4+4-1-2-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-3-3-3-3)/2*3+3+2)/2*2+3+3)/2*2/2/2*3+3)/2-3-3)*3/2-1-3)/2*3/2/2)/2 = 587890622
score 0.000069 for ((((199181197*41-193-191-179-173-167-163-157-151-149-139-137-131-127-113-109-107-103-101-97-89-83-79-73-71-67-61-59-53-47-43-37-11)/7)2+3)/23*17-13-5)/31*29 = 8066615553
score 0.000118 for ((992930870*72+812+756+702+650+600+552+506+462+420+380-0-6-90-56-42-272-182-110-210-342-30-306)*2+12)/240*132 = 78640129524
score 0.000512 for (((317811*832040*3-39088169-24157817-14930352-9227465-5702887-2178309-1346269-3524578-514229-196418-121393-75025-46368-28657-144-55-17711-2584-10946-4181-6765-21-610-987-377-8-1)/2-89-13)/5-233-1597)1 = 793193192491
score 0.005725 for 2(20((120000000*20000+50000000+10000000+5000000+2000000+100000+50000+10000+5000+2000-500-1000)/50)/5)+200+100+10 = 2409600268972
total score = .009546

real    0m57.289s
user    4m19.488s
sys     0m0.708s

Here's the program; explanation is provided in comments. You can define CONCAT_NONE for traditional Countdown rules that don't permit concatenation, or CONCAT_DIGITS to allow concatenation of the input values, but not of any intermediate results. By default, without either defined, the most liberal rules are used.

#include <omp.h>

#include <algorithm>
#include <cmath>
#include <memory>
#include <set>
#include <string>
#include <utility>
#include <vector>

// We apply some principles to help us arrive at a good enough solution
// in a reasonable time:

// 1. Ruthlessly prune duplicate expressions from the candidate
//    list.  If we've seen a+b, then there's no need to consider
//    b+a.  Similarly, having seen (a+b)+c, then (a+c)+b can be
//    discounted.
// 2. Detect duplicates by storing batches of part-processed results
//    in sets before sending to the next pass.
// 3. Sort our candidates so that those containing a term near to the
//    target are first in line for further processing.
// 4. Gradually widen our acceptance margin as we proceed.  This
//    allows us to terminate quickly without exhaustively searching
//    the full problem space.
// 5. Parallelize the generation of candidate solutions using OpenMP.

// Define precedence values for our operators, so that we can print
// with the minimum sufficient parentheses.  The values are grouped
// into tens so that add/10 == subtract/10 and mult/10 == divide/10 -
// the operators use that for avoiding duplicate expressions.
static const int PREC_ADD = 26;
static const int PREC_SUBTRACT = 24;
static const int PREC_MULT = 16;
static const int PREC_DIVIDE = 14;
static const int PREC_CONCAT = 2;
static const int PREC_LITERAL = 0;

static const int PREC_MAX = 1000;

class LiteralTerm;

struct Term
{
    long value;
    int precedence;

    Term(long value, int precedence)
        : value(value), precedence(precedence)
    {}
    Term(const Term&) = default;
    virtual ~Term() = default;

    virtual std::string to_string(int p = PREC_MAX) const = 0;
    virtual LiteralTerm as_literal() const = 0;

    long distance(long target) const { return std::abs(value - target); }

    // We sort large values first, in the hope that this will approach
    // the target faster.
    bool operator<(const Term& o) const { return value > o.value; }
};


// We have two kinds of Term: a LiteralTerm is a leaf node of the
// expression tree, and a BinaryTerm is an internal node.
struct Operator;

class LiteralTerm : public Term
{
    std::string s;
public:
    LiteralTerm(std::string s) : Term(std::stol(s), 0), s(s) {}
    LiteralTerm(std::string s, long value) : Term(value, 0), s(s) {}
    std::string to_string(int = PREC_MAX) const override { return s; }
    LiteralTerm as_literal() const override { return *this; }
};

struct BinaryTerm : public Term
{
    Operator const *op;

    std::shared_ptr<const Term> a;
    std::shared_ptr<const Term> b;

    BinaryTerm(long value, const Operator* op, std::shared_ptr<const Term> a, std::shared_ptr<const Term> b);
    BinaryTerm(const BinaryTerm&) = default;
    BinaryTerm& operator=(const BinaryTerm&) = default;

    std::string to_string(int p = PREC_MAX) const;

    LiteralTerm as_literal() const override { return { to_string(), value }; }
};

struct TermList {
    std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const Term>> terms;
    std::vector<long> values;
    long target_value;
    long badness;

    TermList(std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const Term>> terms, long target_value)
        : terms(std::move(terms)),
          values(),
          target_value(target_value),
          badness(min_badness(this->terms, target_value))
    {
        values.reserve(terms.size());
        std::transform(terms.begin(), terms.end(),
                       std::back_inserter(values), [](auto t) { return t->value; });
        // Literals that begin with "0" need to be distinct from (but
        // adjacent to) equivalent non-literals.  Append a negative
        // value for each term with leading zeros.  There's an edge
        // case involving multiple leading zeros, but we'll ignore
        // that.
        for (const auto& v: terms)
            if (v->precedence <= PREC_CONCAT && v->value > 0 && v->to_string()[0] == '0')
                values.push_back(-v->value);
    }

    // Sort according to the term that's nearest to the target.
    bool operator<(const TermList& o) const
    {
        return std::make_tuple(std::cref(badness),   std::cref(values))
            <  std::make_tuple(std::cref(o.badness), std::cref(o.values));
    }

private:
    static long min_badness(const std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const Term>>& t, long target_value)
    {
        auto less_bad = [target_value](const auto& a, const auto&b)
            { return a->distance(target_value) < b->distance(target_value); };
        auto const& e = *std::min_element(t.begin(), t.end(), less_bad);
        return std::abs(e->value - target_value);
    }
};

using Set = std::set<TermList>;

// Detect duplicate expressions.  This will discount "3+2-3", "8*5*2/3/5"
// and similar expressions that contain simple pairs of inverse operands.
static bool contains_value(const Term& t, int precedence, long value)
{
    auto *const b = dynamic_cast<const BinaryTerm*>(&t);
    if (t.precedence == precedence)
        return t.value == value
            || b && b->b->value < value
            || b && contains_value(*b->a, precedence, value)
            || b && contains_value(*b->b, precedence, value);
    if (t.precedence/10 == precedence/10)
        // Advance through the subtractions to inspect the additions
        // (or through the divides to inspect the multiplications).
        return b && contains_value(*b->a, precedence, value);
    return false;
}

// An Operator is a factory producing binary terms of a given type,
// and for printing those terms.  Here's the abstract base class.
struct Operator
{
    using TermPointer = std::shared_ptr<const Term>;
    using BinaryTermPointer = std::shared_ptr<const BinaryTerm>;

    int const precedence;
    std::string const joiner;

    virtual std::string to_string(const Term &a, const Term &b) const {
        return a.to_string(precedence) + joiner + b.to_string(precedence);
    }

    virtual BinaryTermPointer make_term(TermPointer a, TermPointer b) const {
        long r = evaluate(*a, *b);
        return r ? std::make_shared<BinaryTerm>(r, this, a, b) : BinaryTermPointer();
    }

    virtual ~Operator() = default;

protected:
    Operator(int precedence, std::string joiner) : precedence(precedence), joiner(joiner) {}

    virtual long evaluate(const Term& a, const Term& b) const = 0;
};

// Now we define a subclass for each permitted operator
struct AddOperator : Operator
{
    AddOperator() : Operator(PREC_ADD, "+") {}

    long evaluate(const Term& a, const Term& b) const override
    {
        const auto *d = dynamic_cast<const BinaryTerm*>(&a);
        long r;
        return b.precedence/10 != PREC_ADD/10
            && a.precedence != PREC_SUBTRACT
            && b.value > 0
            && ! (d && d->precedence == this->precedence && d->b->value < b.value)
            && !__builtin_add_overflow(a.value, b.value, &r)
            ? r : 0;
    }
};
struct SubtractOperator : Operator
{
    SubtractOperator() : Operator(PREC_SUBTRACT, "-") {}

    long evaluate(const Term& a, const Term& b) const override
    {
        return b.precedence < PREC_SUBTRACT
            && a.value > b.value
            && !contains_value(a, PREC_ADD, b.value)
            ? a.value - b.value : 0;
    }
};
struct MultiplyOperator : Operator
{
    MultiplyOperator() : Operator(PREC_MULT, "*") {}

    long evaluate(const Term& a, const Term& b) const override
    {
        const auto *d = dynamic_cast<const BinaryTerm*>(&a);
        long r;
        return b.precedence/10 != PREC_MULT/10
            && b.value > 1
            && (b.value > 2 || a.value > 2)
            && ! (d && d->precedence == this->precedence && d->b->value < b.value)
            && !__builtin_mul_overflow(a.value, b.value, &r)
            ? r : 0;
    }
};
struct DivideOperator : Operator
{
    DivideOperator() : Operator(PREC_DIVIDE, "/") {}

    long evaluate(const Term& a, const Term& b) const override
    {
        return b.precedence/10 != PREC_DIVIDE/10 && b.value > 1
            && a.value % b.value == 0
            && !contains_value(a, PREC_MULT, b.value)
            ? a.value / b.value : 0;
    }
};

struct ConcatOperator : Operator
{
    ConcatOperator() : Operator(PREC_CONCAT, "") {}

    long evaluate(const Term& a, const Term& b) const override
    {
#ifdef CONCAT_DIGITS
        if (a.precedence > PREC_CONCAT || a.value == 0 || b.precedence >= PREC_CONCAT)
            return 0;
#else  // CONCAT_FULL
        if (b.precedence == PREC_CONCAT || a.value == 0)
            return 0;
#endif
        long bv = b.value, av = a.value, x = 1, r;
        if (b.precedence > PREC_CONCAT) while (x <= bv) x*= 10;
        else { int d = b.to_string().length(); while (d--) x*= 10; }
        return __builtin_mul_overflow(av, x, &r) || __builtin_add_overflow(r, bv, &r) ? 0 : r;
    }
};
struct ReverseConcatOperator : ConcatOperator
{
    BinaryTermPointer make_term(TermPointer a, TermPointer b) const override
    {
        return ConcatOperator::make_term(b, a);
    }
};

static const std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const Operator>> ops{
#ifndef CONCAT_NONE
        std::make_shared<ConcatOperator>(),
        std::make_shared<ReverseConcatOperator>(),
#endif
        std::make_shared<MultiplyOperator>(),
        std::make_shared<AddOperator>(),
        std::make_shared<SubtractOperator>(),
        std::make_shared<DivideOperator>(),
};


// Implement the BinaryTerm members that use Operator
BinaryTerm::BinaryTerm(long value, const Operator* op, std::shared_ptr<const Term> a, std::shared_ptr<const Term> b)
    : Term(value, op->precedence), op(op), a(std::move(a)), b(std::move(b))
{}

std::string BinaryTerm::to_string(int p) const
{
    auto const s = op->to_string(*a, *b);
    return (p/10) < (precedence/10) ? "("+s+")" : s;
}


// An object to represent our target value, and how close we have
// reached so far.
struct Target
{
    const long value;
    double max_badness = 0;

    LiteralTerm best = {"0"};
    long best_badness = value;

    bool done() const { return best_badness < max_badness; }
    double score() const { return 1.*best_badness/value; }

    void update(const Term& t)
    {
        auto badness = std::abs(t.value - value);
        if (badness < best_badness) {
            best = t.as_literal();
            best_badness = badness;
        }
    }

    void update(const TermList& terms)
    {
        for (auto t: terms.terms)
            update(*t);
    }

    void increase_threshold(size_t items_seen)
    {
        // Adjust our acceptance threshold nearer to accepting 0 by
        // 0.01% for every million values seen.
        max_badness += (value - max_badness) * .0001 * std::exp(items_seen / 1000000);
    }
};

// OpenMP reduction for sets
auto merge(auto& a, auto& b)
{
    auto it = a.begin();
    for (auto&& e: b)
        it = a.insert(std::move(e)).first;
    return a;
}
#pragma omp declare reduction(merge: Set: merge<Set>(omp_out, omp_in) ) \
    initializer(omp_priv = Set())


// We run a cascade of pair-wise combination steps, where for each
// input TermList, we generate every possible allowed pairing of its
// terms, and pass that through (in batches) to the next stage.
struct Combiner
{
    std::unique_ptr<Combiner> const next;
    Target& target;
    size_t const max_output_size;
    size_t const nterms;

    Set input = {};
    size_t output_size = 0;

    Combiner(Target& target, size_t nterms, size_t max_output_size)
        : next(nterms > 0 ? std::make_unique<Combiner>(target, nterms-1, max_output_size) : nullptr),
          target(target),
          max_output_size(max_output_size),
          nterms(nterms)
    {}

    inline void insert(const TermList&& t)
    {
        target.update(t);
        if (target.done()) return;
        if (next) {
            if (input.insert(t).second)
                output_size += count_distinct_pairs(t);
            if (output_size >= max_output_size)
                process_input();
        }
    }

    void finish()
    {
        process_input();
        if (next)
            next->finish();
    }

private:
    // Here's where we do the real work - generating and sifting the
    // combined terms for the next pass.
    void process_input()
    {
        if (target.done()) {
            return;
        }

        if (!next)
            return;

        // Move the elements into a vector, so we can parallelize the
        // for-loop.
        auto in = std::vector<Set::value_type>();
        in.reserve(input.size());
        std::move(input.begin(), input.end(), std::back_inserter(in));
        input.clear();
        output_size = 0;

        auto out = Set();

#pragma omp parallel reduction(merge:out)
        {
#pragma omp for
            for (auto it = in.begin();  it < in.end();  ++it)
            {
                try {
                    const auto end = it->terms.cend();
                    for (auto i = it->terms.cbegin();  i != end;  i = std::upper_bound(i, end, *i))
                        for (auto j = i+1;  j != end;  j = std::upper_bound(j, end, *j)) {
                            for (const auto& op: ops) {
                                auto x = op->make_term(*i, *j);
                                if (x) out.insert(replace(*it, i, j, x));
                            }
                        }
                } catch (const std::bad_alloc&) {
                    // Ignore it; process what we've generated so far.
                }
            }
        }

        // Now we're in single-threaded code, we can pass the combined
        // results to the next combiner.
        for (auto& o: out)
            next->insert(std::move(o));

        target.increase_threshold(out.size());
    }


    // Helper methods used by the above

    // An upper bound on the possible number of output TermLists,
    // assuming every combination is valid.  If all n terms in the
    // input list are distinct, that's just ½n(n-1), but if values
    // are duplicated, we need to reduce n to the number of distinct
    // values, and then add in the cases where we pick two of the
    // same value.
    static int count_distinct_pairs(const TermList& terms)
    {
        int distinct = 0, duplicated = 0;
        auto it = terms.terms.begin(),
            end = terms.terms.end();
        while (it != end) {
            ++distinct;
            auto const& v = (*it)->value;
            if (++it == end || (*it)->value != v) continue;
            ++duplicated;
            while (++it != end && (*it)->value == v)
                ;
        }
        return distinct * (distinct - 1) / 2 + duplicated;
    }

    // Create a new TermList from o by replacing elements i and j with
    // newly-created term n.
    static TermList replace(const TermList& o, auto i, auto j, std::shared_ptr<const Term> n)
    {
        std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const Term>> r;
        r.reserve(o.terms.size() - 1);
        auto added = false;
        for (auto k = o.terms.begin();  k != o.terms.end();  ++k) {
            if (!added && (*k)->value < n->value) { r.push_back(n); added = true; }
            if (k != i && k != j) r.push_back(*k);
        }
        if (!added) r.push_back(n);
        return { r, o.target_value };
    }
};


#include <iostream>
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& o, const Term& t)
{
    return o << t.to_string()<< " = " << t.value;
}
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& o, const TermList& t)
{
    auto *sep = "";
    o << "[" << t.badness << "] ";
    for (auto const& x: t.terms)
        o << sep << *x, sep = ", ";
    return o;
}

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    if (argc < 3) {
        std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " target term ...";
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    auto target = Target{std::stol(*++argv)};

    std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const Term>> terms;
    while (*++argv) {
        auto t = std::make_shared<LiteralTerm>(*argv);
        target.update(*t);
        terms.push_back(t);
    }
    std::sort(terms.begin(), terms.end());

    // Construct the sieve
    Combiner search{target, terms.size(), 2500000/terms.size() + 1}; // tunable - max set size
    search.insert({terms, target.value});
    search.finish();

    std::cout << "score " << std::fixed << target.score() << " for " << target.best << std::endl;
}

I compiled this using GCC 6.2, using g++ -std=c++17 -fopenmp -march=native -O3 (along with some debugging and warning options).

Answer 2

Python 2.7. Score: 1,67039106

So, I decided to have a throw at it myself. Nothing too fancy. This program sorts the numbers in reverse order (big to small), and tries all operators sequentially on the numbers. Blazing fast, but a performance that deserves to be superseded.

Here is the program:

import sys

def score(current,target):
    return abs(1.0-current/float(target))

# Process input and init variables
targetvalue=int(sys.argv[1].strip(','))
numbers=[int(a.strip(',')) for a in sys.argv[2:]]
numbers.sort(reverse=True)
expression='('+str(numbers[0])+')'
currentvalue=nextvalue=testvalue=numbers[0]

# Loop over all values (except the first one)
for value in numbers[1:]:
    # Set multiplication as the reference operator...
    testvalue=currentvalue*value
    minscore=score(testvalue,targetvalue)
    operator="*"
    nextvalue=testvalue
    
    # then try division (only if result is integer and not divided by zero)...
    if value!=0 and currentvalue%value==0:
        testvalue=currentvalue/value
        if score(testvalue,targetvalue)<minscore:
            operator="/"
            minscore=score(testvalue,targetvalue)
            nextvalue=testvalue

    # and addition...
    testvalue=currentvalue+value
    if score(testvalue,targetvalue)<minscore:
        operator="+"
        minscore=score(testvalue,targetvalue)
        nextvalue=testvalue

    # and subtraction...
    testvalue=currentvalue-value
    if score(testvalue,targetvalue)<minscore:
        operator="-"
        minscore=score(testvalue,targetvalue)
        nextvalue=testvalue

    # and concatenation
    testvalue=int(str(currentvalue)+str(value))
    if score(testvalue,targetvalue)<minscore:
        operator=""
        minscore=score(testvalue,targetvalue)
        nextvalue=testvalue

    # finally check if any operator improces the score. If so, append to the expression
    if score(nextvalue,targetvalue)<score(currentvalue,targetvalue):
        expression='('+expression+operator+str(value)+')'
        currentvalue=nextvalue

print(expression)

The output for all the test cases is:

((((((15)14)*13)-12)-11)-10)
((((((((((((999)996)+969)+966)+699)+696)+669)+666)*69)-66)-9)-6)
(((((((((333333333)+333333)+33333)+3333)+333)+33)+3)+3)+3)
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((5)5)5)5)5)5)5)5)5)+5)+5)+5)+5)+5)+5)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+4)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+3)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+2)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)+1)
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((199)197)193)+191)+181)+179)+173)+167)+163)+157)+151)+149)+139)+137)+131)+127)+113)+109)+107)+103)+101)+97)+89)+83)*79)-73)-71)-67)-61)-59)-53)-47)-43)-41)-37)-31)-29)-23)-19)-17)-13)-11)-7)-5)-3)/2)
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((992)930)870)+812)+756)+702)+650)+600)+552)+506)+462)+420)+380)+342)+306)+272)+240)+210)+182)*156)-132)-110)-90)-72)-56)-42)-30)/20)*12)-6)-2)
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((39088169)+24157817)+14930352)+9227465)+5702887)+3524578)+2178309)+1346269)+832040)+514229)+317811)+196418)+121393)+75025)+46368)+28657)+17711)*10946)-6765)-4181)-2584)-1597)-987)-610)-377)-233)-144)-89)-55)-34)-21)-13)-8)-5)-3)/2)+1)+1)
(((((((((((((((((((((50000000)+20000000)+10000000)+5000000)+2000000)+100000)*50000)-20000)-10000)-5000)-2000)-1000)-500)-200)-100)-50)-20)-10)/5)*2)+1)