h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Potholer, just Potholer.

Just visiting...

Cheers,
Paff (just Paff)

Regarding my usernumber solution-finding code, it's in Borland C++.

The code is actually on an old hard drive (along with the compiler, which I can't find the CD for to unstall on my new HDD). I could dig it out next time I swap the old drive into my system.

The program itself is at www.potholer.com/tempstuff/rpn.exe, but it was made for my use only, so is rather lacking refinement.
It gets *virtually* all the correct answers, but there are some it misses.
Just type a number in the top-left window and hit 'Calculate'. Ignore the 'Multi' stuff, since it's a hangover from an earlier incarnation.

It doesn't prune the results down by eliminating spurious brackets, so may report the same effective formula multiple times.

It also dumps output into a window which only holds up to the last batch of 'N' results, so if there are many results, not all are available when it completes. Though there are no scroll bars on the output window, up-arrow will move back through some earlier results.

With the various radio buttons, it's possible to be selective about the kinds of formulas it may try. The text boxes with numbers in limit the number of times a given operator can appear in an expression, which is particularly useful for the 'Negate' operator (unary minuses), since with an large permitted number of them, checking all possible combinations can take a long time.

Just had a quick play (2 minutes) with your "usernumber solution-finding code". Excellent. I'll have a proper look later. My 800x600 laptop screen has a bit of a struggle fitting it on, but maybe its just another excuse for me to get a new one.

Thanks very much for that. See you around.

Cheers (just cheers)