Happy New Year 2024 ... and 2023's last teaser !

[3298]

(01-03-2024 12:56 AM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  

3298 Wrote:Solved it without even bothering to fetch and unpack a calc. Hint: Boolean logic and tracing diagonals through the matrix with a finger was enough. Happy new year anyway!

Anyway ? You posted neither code nor the logic process nor the value of the permanent. That's terseness indeed. Is this the way you usually use to tackle teasers ?

It is when I'm afraid of spoiling the challenge for others. For instance, in the (online version of the) HHC contests I generally submit program size and checksum only (and maybe a cryptic hint), withholding the code and proper explanation until after the deadline is over.
However, this time I misunderstood the challenge, so i "solved" something that was far easier than the actual challenge, enabling me to do so without a calculator. In my defense, I never needed to calculate the determinant of a matrix larger than 3x3 by hand, so I failed to realize that the rule of thumb I remembered from my school days will not work beyond this size. Based on that I ended up with a 0 result, which surprised me only in the way that your previous challenges usually resulted in the number naming the old or the new year. It seemed like the obvious answer otherwise ... again, due to my flawed understanding.

It kind of felt too easy for one of your challenges, almost boring actually. (That's what prompted the "anyway" part of my post...) It should have made me realize that I got something wrong. I feel stupid now.

On a slightly more serious note, the RPL code looks clearer to me than your Basic code. The names of the RPL commands called throughout are a better documentation than trying to trace what each Basic variable is subjected to. But I'm RPL-trained, which allows me to see stackrobatics as necessary but uninteresting fluff, much like variable assignments in a C-derived language. Readability is subjective.