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Showing posts with label Euler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euler. Show all posts

Monday, March 16, 2009

Project Euler

For the past couple of years I have been trying to learn a bit of computer programming by studying Java, Python and lately C.

Yesterday, while searching for a site with programming exercises I stumbled upon Project Euler. Project Euler is a site with 236 mathematical problems that you can try to solve using any programming language you want (even excel will do the trick in some cases!).


Some of the problems have a simple solution in principle but applying that solution can result in programs that need hours to compute the answer (and will probably crash before that). So you have to be creative and find an optimum solution that doesn't require brute force calculations. According to the site all problems can be solved by a well planned program in under a minute.
Once you find the correct answer you can see how other people solved the problem which is a great way to see how other people think and get inspired.

This is an excellent way to practice both your mathematical and your computer programming skills and to keep you mind working. It is also an oportunity to explore some great mathematical concepts!

So far I managed to solve 8 problems using Python and I am close to a couple more. This will keep me busy for a long time....