Chapter 8, Online Competition

It is better to rely on oneself to try the upcoming ACM network selection competition, and then determine one's position in the school.

What is the matter

These major categories encompass every aspect of information competitions

[ Sword Travels the World ]: Please paste the English version here for me to take a look.

The three girls are quite clear-headed in this regard. Is it really that easy to seek help from others? Your time and energy are valuable; is not the time of others worth something as well? While it cannot be ruled out that there are genuinely altruistic individuals who find joy in helping others, most people are not that selfless. When you accept the goodwill and enthusiasm of others, you must eventually reciprocate such treatment. If you hope to find a boyfriend and find someone appealing, it is possible to take the opportunity to develop a relationship with a certain senior. However, if you cannot reciprocate and still wish to take advantage of others, what kind of person does that make you? At least the girls in Dormitory 404 are not capable of such shameless behavior.

It seems that I recognize every word, but when they are put together, I do not understand them at all

Previously, while reading the book "The Journey of the Road," she deeply felt the gap between herself and the top figures; compared to the great masters, it seemed as if she had no brain at all

[ Xiao Meng ]: Dear experts, may I ask how to solve this problem?

You are welcome. The answers for the online competition will also be released tomorrow

[ Sword Travels the World ]: You might consider using the Bellman-Ford algorithm ... ? ... Is the Chinese version your own translation

[ Xiao Meng ]: Alright. Sticker .jpg

The second problem is related to transportation issues, specifically the scheduling of buses. The three individuals discussed for an hour before arriving at a solution approach, but due to time constraints, they were unable to complete the coding. As for the third question, it was completely outside of the planned scope

"Sword Travels the World" is the pseudonym of Wang Cong, and from this pseudonym, it is evident that this president has a deep passion for martial arts novels. He certainly has the qualifications to say, "This question is not difficult"

The chat box fell silent for a while, and after three minutes, Lu Zhihang replied to her

The mental exhaustion from the ACM competition is indeed quite significant, and Xiao Meng is already feeling quite fatigued. However, the thought of a steaming hot pot instantly lifted Xiao Meng's spirits, prompting her to spring up from her seat, feeling much more invigorated.

Junior brother, do you have the answer? I would like to learn.

Three people, while complaining, also researched information, spending twenty minutes to understand the meaning of these questions, which then sparked a second round of complaints

Let's start from the one with the lowest score

The competition will be held on Saturday. This is Xiao Meng's first time participating in the ACM online contest. Starting from 9:00 AM, she and her two teammates from Dormitory 404 sat in front of the computer, waiting for the questions to refresh, and then immersed themselves in the intense challenges of the problems.

After the online competition concluded, the scores were quickly released, and the score of Team 404 was quite low. Everyone was certainly aware of this result. They understood the difference between themselves and the senior students, who had an additional year of study. Assuming each person practices ACM for 3 hours a day, over the course of a year, they would have practiced an additional 1,095 hours! Assuming an average of one problem solved per hour, that would mean they solved 1,095 more problems than they did! This number is sufficient to determine the outcome of a competition.

The first question is about finding prime numbers, which may be an easy question for senior students, but for the freshmen of 404, it still poses a challenge—without a solid mathematical foundation, it is difficult to solve this problem. The three of them spent an hour researching and searching for information, and finally completed the code.

The score for the first question is 200, the score for the second question is 400, and the score for the third question is 800. The scores simply double, which makes it evident how difficult it is

The scenario is as follows: There is an infinite international chessboard, where the demon can jump on the black squares and can jump a maximum of 5 steps, while the angel can only jump on the white squares and can jump a maximum of 3 steps. The angel and the demon start from points that are 1,000 squares apart, with the angel fleeing and the demon pursuing. If the distance between them is less than 100 squares, the demon will defeat the angel. The question is: in how many steps can the demon catch up to the angel?

[ Sword Travels the World ]: Let me take a look, it's somewhat interesting, but not particularly difficult

Good habits

Xiao Meng posted the third question in the group seeking help. The algorithms she has mastered could not solve this problem, and she had no idea how to approach it—clearly, this question tests mathematical knowledge

All members of Dormitory 404 can only participate in the online competition for now, which is held once a month. At the end of each month, a set of problems that meet the difficulty level of the international ACM competition will be regularly published on the official website, and each team will participate in the competition online. The online competition adopts a points system; once a certain number of points is reached, teams can qualify for the offline competition. Outstanding participants in the offline competition will have the opportunity to represent the school in regional competitions and compete with excellent students from other universities.

Well, how many points is this question worth

The competition time for the Huada ACM online contest is two hours, during which three problems must be solved. One hundred and twenty minutes may not seem long, but with the brain operating at high speed, various algorithms and codes swirl in one's mind, comparable to some engineering professional exams; it truly is a test of endurance. Although regular training is conducted under the same requirements, students who have experienced the college entrance examination know that the feeling of doing practice papers is not the same as that of the actual exam.

Alright. I will bring you some snacks when I return in the evening

Xiao Meng expressed her gratitude to Lu Zhihang while answering her

The vocabulary is extensive, larger than I had imagined

Just as she was about to further study the solution provided by the master, Xiao Meng received a summons from her sister, Xiao Wei

[Xiao Meng]: Senior Brother Lu, may I ask how you formulate the questions? What are the principles behind question formulation?

Is this acceptable

However, this method proved ineffective for the third question, and Xiao Meng and Wang Xuan searched various major websites but could not find suitable reference materials

Xiao Meng knew that behind the alias Freddie was Lu Zhihang, and couldn't help but feel a bit hesitant

Consider this: the problem you are pondering was casually posed by a genius. If your talent and learning ability are rated at 10, then the data of Lu Zhihang would undoubtedly exceed 1,000 or even 10,000; the specific value is beyond what someone at her level can estimate. During high school, Xiao Meng rarely experienced this feeling of being intellectually crushed by others, but in university, she truly felt it time and again

It feels like each question is more difficult than the previous one

However, regardless of the circumstances, apart from the initial encounter, he answers all questions directed at him and offers help whenever possible. This extraordinary senior is truly a good person

Ah! It turns out to be a question posed by the God of the Road!

This is the charm of truth

Yes

The questions refreshed on the computer on time, and the three individuals hurriedly scanned through the prompts, all falling into a state of speechlessness. They knew the questions were in English, but they did not expect them to be so lengthy.

This question was created by me

The question is quite difficult

Of course. We should not consider the score of 800

Yes

The statement consisting of three words and a punctuation mark was rather indifferent, aligning with the impression he has always given. Xiao Meng quickly explained the reason and sent him a screenshot of the third question

Xiao Meng grabbed her backpack and left the dormitory, riding her bicycle to her destination

The chat box between the two individuals is empty, with only three circuit diagrams sent by him

This is the problem for today's ACM intra-school online competition

The address has been sent to your phone, please come quickly

Wang Xuan waved her hand and her gaze returned to the screen once again

Generally speaking, the scale of ACM competitions can vary greatly, with the largest being world-class events and the smallest being competitions organized by individual schools. The ACM competition committee at Huada has organized different types of competitions, primarily divided into online and offline contests

Thirty seconds later, Lu Zhihang sent a txt file of less than 1K. Xiao Meng opened it and found that it was the answer to the third question

Xiao Meng, filled with a sense of shock, opened the QQ account named "Freddie"

Come to Little Sheep for a meal! Xiao Wei said cheerfully on the other end of the phone

Xiao Meng had no choice but to use multiple exclamation marks, and now only the style of roaring can perfectly express her feelings

[Freddie]: The teacher asked me to come up with some exam questions, with dozens of problems in combinatorial mathematics, linear algebra, graph theory, number theory, and geometry. However, I am unsure which questions to select for the online competition.

800 points

... ... Huh?

[ Sword Travels the World ]: Listen to me, finding him is the right choice. Most of the difficult questions in the online competition were created by him, and he must have the best answers at hand

In such a highly competitive environment at Huada, how could it be easy to surpass others

The scale of the Artificial Intelligence Association's group is not large, with around 40 members. The conversations within the group are not frequent; it mainly serves to disseminate notifications such as "Meeting at a certain time and place" and "I have uploaded a document," followed by a flurry of responses from individuals expressing gratitude, such as "Thank you, Master Xie."

Having immersed herself in the online world for many years, Xiao Meng could certainly interpret the simple word "yes" as meaning "the conversation is coming to an end." Xiao Meng thought that this expert's online chatting style felt quite similar to their everyday conversation style, making them seem somewhat unapproachable

Go have dinner with your sister, I will study the expert's solution further

In addition to being accurate, Lu Zhihang's code is also remarkably concise. Just as mathematical problems can have multiple solutions, programming problems naturally have various approaches as well. One can discern Lu Zhihang's brilliance simply by the size of the text.

Accurate, extremely accurate. This was Xiao Meng's first thought after reviewing the code.

Wang Xuan strongly supports her thirst for knowledge and also engages in discussions with her; on the other hand, Zhang Yuqing expressed a desire to refresh her mind and went out to attend a class reunion

Understood, I will assist you @ Freddie

Senior Brother Lu, thank you so much! I have learned a lot from your solution

Xiao Meng would never let a problem go unresolved overnight whenever she had the opportunity—this spirit enabled her to gain admission to Huada. She pondered for a moment and then opened the group chat of the Artificial Intelligence Association

In the third question, Lu Zhihang employed algorithms from graph theory, resulting in a code that is concise, smooth, and elegant, comparable to a five-character quatrain. When the code is executed in the compiler, it runs extremely fast with minimal memory usage. Xiao Meng felt that even if she studied for another three to four years, she might not be able to devise such a clever solution. She sighed deeply and exclaimed that this was what one would call an enlightening experience.

The feeling of seeing the answer in advance is different; if possible, I do not like to let questions linger overnight

Although the senior members of the club promised to help the members of Team 404 prepare for the ACM, no one took it seriously

Xiao Meng is not someone who easily gets discouraged. After having lunch, she searched various major ACM websites for problems similar to the second question and reviewed their solutions. After several hours of contemplation and reading materials, she found the solution to the second question

Is Brother Lu there?

Wang Xuan sat beside her, watching her chat, utterly captivated by the answer: "3.1 milliseconds! So beautiful—ah, why do I say that the answer to a question is beautiful?"