Special numbers challenge in programming - algorithm

Question

First, sorry for my bad English.
Special numbers are numbers that the sum of the digits is divisible to the number of the digit.
Example: 135 is a special number because the sum of the digits is 1+3+5 = 9, the number of the digit is 3, and 9 is divisible to 3 because 9 % 3 == 0. 2,3,9,13,17,15,225, 14825 are also special numbers.
Requirement:
Write a program that read the number n (n <= 10^6) from a file named SNUMS.INP (SNUMS.INP can contain up to 10^6 numbers) and print the result out into the file SNUMS.OUT. Number n is the order of the special number and the result will be that special number in n order (sorry I don't know how to express it).
Example: n = 3 means you have to print out the 3rd special number which is 3, n = 10 you have to print out 10th special number which is 11, n = 13 you have to print out 13th special number which is 17, n = 15 you have to print out 15th special number which is 20.
The example bellow will demonstrate the file SNUMS.INP and SNUMS.OUT (Remember: SNUMS.INP can contain up to 10^6 numbers)
SNUMS.INP:
2
14
17
22
SNUMS.OUT:
2
19
24
35
I have my own alogrithm but the the running time exceeds 1 second (my SNUMS.INP has 10^6 numbers). So I need the optimal alogrithm so that the running time will be less than or equal 1s.
Guys I decide to post my own code which is written in Java, it always take more than 4 seconds to run. Could you guys please suggest some ideas to improve or how to make it run faster
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;
public class Test
{
public static void main(String[]args) throws IOException
{
File file = new File("SNUMS.INP");
Scanner inputFile = new Scanner(file);
int order = 1;
int i = 1;
int[] special = new int[1000000+1];
// Write all 10^6 special numbers into an array named "special"
while (order <= 1000000)
{
if (specialNumber(i) == true)
{
special[order] = i;
order++;
}
i++;
}
// Write the result to file
PrintWriter outputFile = new PrintWriter("SNUMS.OUT");
outputFile.println(special[inputFile.nextInt()]);
while (inputFile.hasNext())
outputFile.println(special[inputFile.nextInt()]);
outputFile.close();
}
public static boolean specialNumber(int i)
{
// This method check whether the number is a special number
boolean specialNumber = false;
byte count=0;
long sum=0;
while (i != 0)
{
sum = sum + (i % 10);
count++;
i = i / 10;
}
if (sum % count == 0) return true;
else return false;
}
}
This is file SNUMS.INP (sample) contains 10^6 numbers if you guys want to test.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwOJpa2dAZlUNkE3YmMwZmlBOTg/view?usp=sharing

Answer 1

I've managed to solve it in 0.6 seconds on C# 6.0 (.Net 4.6 IA-64) at Core i7 3.2 GHz with HDD 7200 rpc; hope that precompution will be fast enough at your workstation:
// Precompute beautiful numbers
private static int[] BeautifulNumbers(int length) {
int[] result = new int[length];
int index = 0;
for (int i = 1; ; ++i) {
int sum = 0;
int count = 0;
for (int v = i; v > 0; sum += v % 10, ++count, v /= 10)
;
if (sum % count == 0) {
result[index] = i;
if (++index >= result.Length)
return result;
}
}
}
...
// Test file with 1e6 items
File.WriteAllLines(#"D:\SNUMS.INP", Enumerable
.Range(1, 1000000)
.Select(index => index.ToString()));
...
Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
sw.Start();
// Precomputed numbers (about 0.3 seconds to be created)
int[] data = BeautifulNumbers(1000000);
// File (about 0.3 seconds for both reading and writing)
var result = File
.ReadLines(#"D:\SNUMS.INP")
.Select(line => data[int.Parse(line) - 1].ToString());
File.WriteAllLines(#"D:\SNUMS.OUT", result);
sw.Stop();
Console.Write("Elapsed time {0}", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
The output vary from
Elapsed time 516
to
Elapsed time 660
with average elapsed time at about 580 milliseconds

Answer 2

Now that you have the metaphor of abacus implemented below, here are some hints
instead of just incrementing with 1 inside a cycle, can we incremente more aggressively? Indeed we can, but with an extra bit of care.
first, how much aggressive we can be? Looking to 11 (first special with 2 digits), it doesn't pay to just increment by 1, we can increment it by 2. Looking to 102 (special with 3 digits), we can increment it by 3. Is it natural to think we should use increments equal with the number of digits?
now the "extra bit of care" - whenever the "increment by the number of digits" causes a "carry", the naive increment breaks. Because the carry will add 1 to the sum of digits, so that we may need to subtract that one from something to keep the sum of digits well behaved.
one of the issues in the above is that we jumped quite happily at "first special with N digits", but the computer is not us to see it at a glance. Fortunately, the "first special with N digits" is easy to compute: it is 10^(N-1)+(N-1) - 10^(N-1) brings an 1 and the rest is zero, and N-1 brings the rest to make the sum of digits be the first divisible with N. Of course, this will break down if N > 10, but fortunately the problem is limited to 10^6 special numbers, which will require at most 7 digits (the millionth specual number is 6806035 - 7 digits);
so, we can detect the "first special number with N digits" and we know we should try with care to increment it by N. Can we look now better into that "extra care"?.
The code - twice as speedy as the previous one and totally "orthodox" in obtaining the data (via getters instead of direct access to data members).
Feel free to inline:
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
public class Abacus {
static protected int pow10[]=
{1,10,100,1000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, 10000000, 100000000}
;
// the value stored for line[i] corresponds to digit[i]*pow10[i]
protected int lineValues[];
protected int sumDigits;
protected int representedNumber;
public Abacus() {
this.lineValues=new int[0];
this.sumDigits=0;
this.representedNumber=0;
}
public int getLineValue(int line) {
return this.lineValues[line];
}
public void clearUnitLine() {
this.sumDigits-=this.lineValues[0];
this.representedNumber-=this.lineValues[0];
this.lineValues[0]=0;
}
// This is how you operate the abacus in real life being asked
// to add a number of units to the line presenting powers of 10
public boolean addWithCarry(int units, int line) {
if(line-1==pow10.length) {
// don't have enough pow10 stored
pow10=Arrays.copyOf(pow10, pow10.length+1);
pow10[line]=pow10[line-1]*10;
}
if(line>=this.lineValues.length) {
// don't have enough lines for the carry
this.lineValues=Arrays.copyOf(this.lineValues, line+1);
}
int digitOnTheLine=this.lineValues[line]/pow10[line];
int carryOnTheNextLine=0;
while(digitOnTheLine+units>=10) {
carryOnTheNextLine++;
units-=10;
}
if(carryOnTheNextLine>0) {
// we have a carry, the sumDigits will be affected
// 1. the next two statememts are equiv with "set a value of zero on the line"
this.sumDigits-=digitOnTheLine;
this.representedNumber-=this.lineValues[line];
// this is the new value of the digit to set on the line
digitOnTheLine+=units;
// 3. set that value and keep all the values synchronized
this.sumDigits+=digitOnTheLine;
this.lineValues[line]=digitOnTheLine*pow10[line];
this.representedNumber+=this.lineValues[line];
// 4. as we had a carry, the next line will be affected as well.
this.addWithCarry(carryOnTheNextLine, line+1);
}
else { // we an simply add the provided value without carry
int delta=units*pow10[line];
this.lineValues[line]+=delta;
this.representedNumber+=delta;
this.sumDigits+=units;
}
return carryOnTheNextLine>0;
}
public int getSumDigits() {
return this.sumDigits;
}
public int getRepresentedNumber() {
return this.representedNumber;
}
public int getLinesCount() {
return this.lineValues.length;
}
static public ArrayList<Integer> specials(int N) {
ArrayList<Integer> ret=new ArrayList<>(N);
Abacus abacus=new Abacus();
ret.add(1);
abacus.addWithCarry(1, 0); // to have something to add to
int increment=abacus.getLinesCount();
while(ret.size()<N) {
boolean hadCarry=abacus.addWithCarry(increment, 0);
if(hadCarry) {
// need to resynch the sum for a perfect number
int newIncrement=abacus.getLinesCount();
abacus.clearUnitLine();
if(newIncrement!=increment) {
// we switched powers of 10
abacus.addWithCarry(newIncrement-1, 0);
increment=newIncrement;
}
else { // simple carry
int digitsSum=abacus.getSumDigits();
// how much we should add to the last digit to make the sumDigits
// divisible again with the increment?
int units=increment-digitsSum % increment;
if(units<increment) {
abacus.addWithCarry(units, 0);
}
}
}
ret.add(abacus.getRepresentedNumber());
}
return ret;
}
// to understand how the addWithCarry works, try the following code
static void add13To90() {
Abacus abacus; // starts with a represented number of 0
// line==1 means units of 10^1
abacus.addWithCary(9, 1); // so this should make the abacus store 90
System.out.println(abacus.getRepresentedNumber());
// line==0 means units of 10^0
abacus.addWithCarry(13, 0);
System.out.println(abacus.getRepresentedNumber()); // 103
}
static public void main(String[] args) {
int count=1000000;
long t1=System.nanoTime();
ArrayList<Integer> s1=Abacus.specials(count);
long t2=System.nanoTime();
System.out.println("t:"+(t2-t1));
}
}
Constructing the numbers from their digits is bound to be faster.
Remember the abacus? Ever used one?
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class Specials {
static public ArrayList<Integer> computeNSpecials(int N) {
ArrayList<Integer> specials = new ArrayList<>();
int abacus[] = new int[0]; // at index i we have the digit for 10^i
// This way, when we don't have enough specials,
// we simply reallocate the array and continue
while (specials.size() < N) {
// see if a carry operation is necessary
int currDigit = 0;
for (; currDigit < abacus.length && abacus[currDigit] == 9; currDigit++) {
abacus[currDigit] = 0; // a carry occurs when adding 1
}
if (currDigit == abacus.length) {
// a carry, but we don't have enough lines on the abacus
abacus = new int[abacus.length + 1];
abacus[currDigit] = 1; // we resolved the carry, all the digits below
// are 0
} else {
abacus[currDigit]++; // we resolve the carry (if there was one),
currDigit = 0; // now it's safe to continue incrementing at 10^0
}
// let's obtain the current number and the sum of the digits
int sumDigits = 0;
for (int i = 0; i<abacus.length; i++) {
sumDigits += abacus[i];
}
// is it special?
if (sumDigits % abacus.length == 0) {
// only now compute the number and collect it as special
int number = 0;
for (int i = abacus.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
number = 10 * number + abacus[i];
}
specials.add(number);
}
}
return specials;
}
static public void main(String[] args) {
ArrayList<Integer> specials=Specials.computeNSpecials(100);
for(int i=0; i<specials.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(specials.get(i));
}
}
}