#724 - Drone Delivery
A depot uses \(n\) drones to disperse packages containing essential supplies along a long straight road.
Initially all drones are stationary, loaded with a supply package.
Every second, the depot selects a drone at random and sends it this instruction:
- If you are stationary, start moving at one centimetre per second along the road.
- If you are moving, increase your speed by one centimetre per second along the road without changing direction.
The road is wide enough that drones can overtake one another without risk of collision.
Eventually, there will only be one drone left at the depot waiting to receive its first instruction. As soon as that drone has flown one centimetre along the road, all drones drop their packages and return to the depot.
Let \(E(n)\) be the expected distance in centimetres from the depot that the supply packages land.
For example, \(E(2) = \frac{7}{2}\), \(E(5) = \frac{12019}{720}\), and \(E(100) \approx 1427.193470\).
Find \(E(10^8)\). Give your answer rounded to the nearest integer.
Problem text © Project Euler, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Original: projecteuler.net/problem=724. Published Saturday, 5th September 2020, 02:00 pm. Solved by 498 members at time of mirroring.
Why this is useful
Probability Statistics. Expectation and state-based probability reasoning underpin pricing, risk, and statistical inference (Phases 7, 11, 13).
We classify relevance honestly - not every Euler problem is a trading application.
Prerequisites
Lessons that prepare you:
13.2 Monte Carlo Estimation and Error Analysis · 19.14 Computational Complexity, Feasibility Estimation, and Proving Algorithms Correct · 19.4 Exact Arithmetic: Big Integers, Rationals, and Floating-Point Traps · 2.4 Taylor Series and Local Approximation · 5.1 Floating-Point Arithmetic, Conditioning, and Stability · 7.3 Independence, Conditional Probability, and Conditional Expectation · 7.2 Expectation, Moments, and Key Inequalities · 7.1 Probability Spaces, Random Variables, and Distributions
Recommended stepping-stone problems: #856 · #375 · #869
Concepts: numerical-methods probability brute-force-reduction
Learning mode
Pick how much scaffolding you want. Your choice is remembered per problem.
Understand the problem
- What exactly is the input to problem 724? Is it a bound (10^8), a supplied dataset, or a definition you must generate from?
- What is the required output - restate it precisely: a single exact integer. Required format: Give your answer rounded to the nearest integer.
- Which objects exactly are in scope, and which are excluded by the wording (strict vs non-strict inequality, 'distinct', 'proper', 'below' vs 'up to')?
- What do the arguments of E(n), E(2) mean, and what is the value's type (count, sum, probability)?
- What are the edge cases: the smallest legal object, zero/one, ties, and the boundary at exactly 10^8?
- Why is brute force hard HERE specifically? Estimate the number of candidates implied by 10^8 and the cost of testing one.
- Which probability fact would, if true, collapse the search - and can you state it as a testable claim before you look for a proof?
Predict & plan (before you code)
- Predict the strategy: in one sentence, what will your solution do? (The classification says probability - do you agree, and why?)
- Predict the complexity of your intended method in terms of N = 10^8, and the wall-clock time you expect. Write both down now.
- Predict the key data structure: what is stored, keyed by what, and how large will it get at full scale?
- Predict the failure mode: what is most likely to break - an off-by-one on the bound, a definition misread, precision, or memory?
- Predict the output of the small case from rung 3 BEFORE running it (the statement says: "For example, E(2) = frac 72, E(5) = frac 12019720, and E(100) ~= 1427.") - then run it. A surprise here is worth more than an hour of debugging later.
Scratchpad
Mathematical notes, formulas, pseudocode, hypotheses, complexity notes. Saved automatically with your progress.
Python workbench
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Check your answer
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Progressive hints
Optimization
You have a correct answer. That is the start of the learning, not the end.
- Reduce the time complexity. What is the bottleneck, and what mathematical fact removes it?
- Reduce memory. Can you stream, or keep only the last k states?
- Replace brute force with a closed form, a sieve, a recurrence, or a symmetry argument.
- Prove the optimized version computes the same thing.
- Compare two implementations and time them.
Explain it
Which step of your solution were you least confident about, and what evidence would settle it?
What did you try first, and what specifically made you abandon it - a proof, a timing, or a wrong small-case answer?
Where did the probability structure do the real work? Name the single observation that collapsed the search space.
Could you have reached the probability idea faster? Which words in the statement were pointing at it, and did you notice them?
What was the bug that cost you the most time, and what CLASS of bug was it (off-by-one, definition misread, precision, state under-specified)?
How would your solution change if the bound 10^8 were multiplied by 1000? Does it survive, or does it need a different idea?
What is the honest complexity of what you wrote (not what you intended), and where is the remaining slack?
Which problem you have already solved is this most similar to, and what is the shared skeleton - is it really 'probability' underneath?
State the transferable technique in one sentence, without mentioning this problem's story at all.
Self-assess (mastery is not a correct number)
You reach Mastered only when you have solved it, rated yourself at least Solid across the dimensions, and written a real explanation.
Confidence
Low confidence schedules this problem for spaced review, even if you solved it.
Mastery check
- Variation: change the bound (or a rule) in the statement. Does your method still work? What breaks first?
- Constraints: if the limit were 10× larger, which step fails, and what would you replace it with?
- Related problem: #856 · #375 · #869
- Transfer: where else does this technique appear? Name a lesson and a real computational setting.
- Spaced re-attempt: come back after the review interval and re-solve it with no hints.