This is in continuation of Closest to pi.

(A) As we are aware, the approximate value of e with some decimals is 2.7182818284590...

Write an expression using all digits (0-9) once each, to achieve the closest value to e. The digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0 must be arranged strictly in this order. You can only use the five symbols: parentheses , addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols that is, (), +, -, *, /

Concatenating two or more digits is allowed. Each symbol can occur at most once in the given expression. Only standard order of operations is followed – that is, multiplication does not take precedence over division, addition does not take precedence over multiplication, and so on.

For example : (123+456)/7890 is a valid expression. However, expressions like 1+234/567 + 8/9 -0 or, 1+3*2456/78-90 are not allowed.

(B) Write an expression closest to e, if all the other conditions in (A) remain unaltered, but the restriction of each symbol occurring at most one is withdrawn. For example, expressions like 1+234/567 + 8/9 -0 is allowed. However, expressions like: 1+3*2456/78-90 are not allowed.

(C) What are the respective answers to (A) and (B) if a sixth symbol, that is, the decimal point is allowed?

A very minor tweak on the program used to solve the Close to Pi puzzle. This time run time was also speeded up by use of the QB64 compiler, thanks to brianjn's advocacy of that compiler.

DECLARE SUB addon ()
DEFDBL A-Z
DIM SHARED stack(11)
DIM SHARED upTo, stackLevel
DIM SHARED h$, best, usedPlus, usedMinus, usedTimes, usedDiv

best = 9999
stack(1) = 1: stackLevel = 1: upTo = 1
h$ = "1"

OPEN "close2e.txt" FOR OUTPUT AS #2

addon

CLOSE 2

SUB addon
nextOne = upTo + 1

SELECT CASE nextOne
    CASE 10
        nextOne = 0
    CASE 1
        ' this is the end
        ' evaluate
        IF stackLevel = 1 THEN
            diff = ABS(stack(1) - 2.718281828#)
            IF diff <= best THEN
                best = diff
                PRINT h$, stack(1)
                PRINT #2, h$, stack(1)
            END IF
            EXIT SUB
        ELSE
            nextOne = 999
        END IF
END SELECT

'first try concatenation
IF nextOne < 999 THEN
    lc$ = RIGHT$(h$, 1)
    ix = INSTR("0123456789", lc$)
    IF ix THEN
        h$ = h$ + LTRIM$(STR$(nextOne))
        stack(stackLevel) = 10 * stack(stackLevel) + nextOne
        utSave = upTo
        upTo = nextOne
        addon
        upTo = utSave
        stack(stackLevel) = stack(stackLevel) \ 10
        h$ = LEFT$(h$, LEN(h$) - 1)
    END IF
END IF

'try comma
IF nextOne < 999 THEN
    stackLevel = stackLevel + 1
    stack(stackLevel) = nextOne
    h$ = h$ + "," + LTRIM$(STR$(nextOne))
    utSave = upTo
    upTo = nextOne
    addon
    upTo = utSave
    stackLevel = stackLevel - 1
    h$ = LEFT$(h$, LEN(h$) - 2)
END IF

GOSUB tryDiadic

EXIT SUB

tryDiadic:
IF stackLevel >= 2 THEN
    s1 = stack(stackLevel - 1)
    s2 = stack(stackLevel)
    stackLevel = stackLevel - 1

    stack(stackLevel) = s1 + s2
    h$ = h$ + "+"
    IF usedPlus = 0 THEN usedPlus = 1: addon: usedPlus = 0
    h$ = LEFT$(h$, LEN(h$) - 1)

    stack(stackLevel) = s1
    stackLevel = stackLevel + 1
    stack(stackLevel) = s2

    s1 = stack(stackLevel - 1)
    s2 = stack(stackLevel)
    stackLevel = stackLevel - 1

    stack(stackLevel) = s1 - s2
    h$ = h$ + "-"
    IF usedMinus = 0 THEN usedMinus = 1: addon: usedMinus = 0
    h$ = LEFT$(h$, LEN(h$) - 1)

    stack(stackLevel) = s1
    stackLevel = stackLevel + 1
    stack(stackLevel) = s2

    s1 = stack(stackLevel - 1)
    s2 = stack(stackLevel)
    stackLevel = stackLevel - 1

    stack(stackLevel) = s1 * s2
    h$ = h$ + "*"
    IF usedTimes = 0 THEN usedTimes = 1: addon: usedTimes = 0
    h$ = LEFT$(h$, LEN(h$) - 1)

    stack(stackLevel) = s1
    stackLevel = stackLevel + 1
    stack(stackLevel) = s2

    s1 = stack(stackLevel - 1)
    s2 = stack(stackLevel)

    IF s2 <> 0 THEN
        stackLevel = stackLevel - 1

        stack(stackLevel) = s1 / s2
        h$ = h$ + "/"
        IF usedDiv = 0 THEN usedDiv = 1: addon: usedDiv = 0
        h$ = LEFT$(h$, LEN(h$) - 1)

        stack(stackLevel) = s1
        stackLevel = stackLevel + 1
        stack(stackLevel) = s2
    END IF

END IF
RETURN

END SUB

finds the closest value without repeating an operation as:

1,234,56+/,789*,0-           2.720689655172414

where the value on the right is obtained by the operations on the left, which are shown in reverse Polish form. Translated into algebraic, that's

1/(234+56)*789-0 ~= 2.720689655172414 ,

where, it's to be remembered that multiplication does not take precedence over division, though this notation is ambiguous (see discussion at http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/57021.html).

If repetition is allowed:

1,2*,3/,4*,5,6,7,8/+,90+/+   2.718279569892473

where the RPN translates to 1*2/3*4+5/(6+7/8+90), which I would be more comfortable writing as

(1*2/3)*4+5/(6+7/8+90) ~= 2.718279569892473

to avoid the ambiguity of the relative precedence of multiplication and division.

If we also allow a leading unary negative sign:

1,2/,3-,4,5*,6,7+,8/,90+/-  -2.718281036834925

The equivalent of the RPN is 1/2-3-4*5/((6+7)/8+90), but since this is the approximation of negative, rather than positive, e, we negate to

-1/2+3+4*5/((6+7)/8+90) ~= 2.718281036834925.

 

Posted by Charlie on 2012-04-18 16:13:17