At flooble there are 40 problems in the queue. (this may not be true but lets just pretend it is.) A few crazy hackers somehow manage to promote themselves to scholars. On the first day the first hacker will vote thumbs up on all problems displayed.(The 10 most recent) On the second day the second hacker votes thumbs down on every second problem. On the third day the third hacker votes thumbs up on every third problem. And so on and so on. (When it gets to the eleventh day the eleventh hacker will do what the first hacker did)

How many days will it take for every problem in the queue to be live on the site?

Note: For those who don't know there are only 10 problems that can be voted thumbs up or thumbs down every day and these problems are the 10 least recent. Also a problem with three thumbs up will be posted to the site and taken out of queue. Only one problem can be posted to the site per day. Also if a problem gets 3 thumbs down it is deleted.

Btw: for those who like an extra challenge what if one problem is submitted every 3 days?

Also: A hacker will always vote before a problem becomes live.

(In reply to Looking back at the rules. by Charlie)

But when Alan re-stated the rules in comment 35 he said...

"At the start of a day the following happens.
The hacker votes then the oldest problem which has reached +3 is posted and -3's are deleted."

...which makes me think that we had it right before by posting the oldest eligible problem.

Whichever basis is assumed I think Ravi has a very long wait to see his 200th problem posted!

Btw, 9 more comments on this and it'll be top of the 'Most Commented On' league - wtg Alan!

Posted by fwaff on 2003-03-05 05:39:03