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What are some good competitive problems for a programming contest?

For people who like to solve programming contest problems, what should one do if he is clueless and stuck on some problem?

  • Currently I am working my way through USACO gateway training (http://cerberus.delos.com:790/usacogate). I am about to finish section 2.3 with only 1 problem that I can't get out of my way :(. So steps would you take if you are in such situation? What sorts of questions would you ask you self or think about in order to walk your way through a solution?

  • Answer:

    Think about it for a little longer, if you're still completely stuck, then ask someone who is more experienced than you for some hints. If you don't know anyone who could be of assistance, then you can ask on some forums, the topcoder forum is a good place to ask for hints. If you're still stuck after you receive the hints and spend more time thinking about the problem, then you can read the problem's solution. After you read the solution and understand it, you should implement it. Also, make sure that you save the problem's link somewhere so that you can later revisit it. This is a good way to ensure that you completely understood the idea behind it.

Mostafa Hany Gomaa at Quora Visit the source

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I don't know about you , But if you do sport programming because you like solving these programming puzzles just for the fun of it , My suggestion would be to think about a possible way to solve that problem for at most 1-2 hours every day and meanwhile move on to solving some other problem , Make this clear to yourself that whether you don't know what the problem statement asks or you don't know how to solve the problem that you understand well . For the first case it is always better to ask someone for clarification of problem statement ...          After sometime return to the original problem and try to think for a possible solution,  If you think you have some solution but still cannot express it , don't switch to any other question until you either prove that what you are thinking is wrong or you get a AC :)          Give yourself some time to think for a solution don't hurry , sometimes it takes weeks to get the solution but when you get the solution on your own it will be a awesome experience and you will have a in depth knowledge about that subject .

Anonymous

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