#761 - Runner and Swimmer
Two friends, a runner and a swimmer, are playing a sporting game: The swimmer is swimming within a circular pool while the runner moves along the pool edge. While the runner tries to catch the swimmer at the very moment that the swimmer leaves the pool, the swimmer tries to reach the edge before the runner arrives there. They start the game with the swimmer located in the middle of the pool, while the runner is located anywhere at the edge of the pool.
We assume that the swimmer can move with any velocity up to \(1\) in any direction and the runner can move with any velocity up to \(v\) in either direction around the edge of the pool. Moreover we assume that both players can react immediately to any change of movement of their opponent.
Assuming optimal strategy of both players, it can be shown that the swimmer can always win by escaping the pool at some point at the edge before the runner gets there, if \(v\) is less than the critical speed \(V_{\text{Circle}} \approx 4.60333885\) and can never win if \(v \gt V_{\text{Circle}}\).
Now the two players play the game in a perfectly square pool. Again the swimmer starts in the middle of the pool, while the runner starts at the midpoint of one of the edges of the pool. It can be shown that the critical maximal speed of the runner below which the swimmer can always escape and above which the runner can always catch the swimmer when trying to leave the pool is \(V_{\text{Square}} \approx 5.78859314\).
At last, both players decide to play the game in a pool in the form of regular hexagon. Giving the same conditions as above, with the swimmer starting in the middle of the pool and the runner at the midpoint of one of the edges of the pool, find the critical maximal speed \(V_{\text{Hexagon}}\) of the runner, below which the swimmer can always escape and above which the runner can always catch the swimmer. Give your answer rounded to 8 digits after the decimal point.
Problem text © Project Euler, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Original: projecteuler.net/problem=761. Published Sunday, 11th July 2021, 05:00 am. Solved by 196 members at time of mirroring.
Why this is useful
Numerical Computing. Precision, conditioning, and numerical iteration transfer directly to pricing engines and model calibration (Phases 5, 13, 15).
We classify relevance honestly - not every Euler problem is a trading application.
Prerequisites
Lessons that prepare you:
10.4 Algorithms: Gradient Descent and Newton's Method · 10.1 Convex Sets and Convex Functions · 19.14 Computational Complexity, Feasibility Estimation, and Proving Algorithms Correct · 19.7 Dynamic Programming: Memoization and Tabulation · 19.4 Exact Arithmetic: Big Integers, Rationals, and Floating-Point Traps · 19.9 Graph Algorithms: BFS, DFS, Dijkstra, and Minimum Spanning Trees · 19.6 Recurrence Relations and Generating Functions · 19.10 Search: Backtracking, Branch-and-Bound, Binary Search, Meet-in-the-Middle · 2.4 Taylor Series and Local Approximation · 3.1 Vectors, Multivariable Functions, and Level Sets · 5.1 Floating-Point Arithmetic, Conditioning, and Stability
Recommended stepping-stone problems: #644 · #982 · #331
Concepts: dynamic-programming game-theory geometry graph-theory numerical-methods optimization brute-force-reduction
Likely techniques: bfs-dfs
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Understand the problem
- What exactly is the input to problem 761? Is it a bound (the stated bound), 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 8 digits after the decimal point.
- 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 constraint does the bound the stated bound impose, and is it inclusive or exclusive?
- What are the edge cases: the smallest legal object, zero/one, ties, and the boundary at exactly the stated bound?
- Why is brute force hard HERE specifically? Estimate the number of candidates implied by the stated bound and the cost of testing one.
- Which game-theory 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 game-theory / bfs-dfs - do you agree, and why?)
- Predict the complexity of your intended method in terms of N = the stated bound, 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 - then run it. A surprise here is worth more than an hour of debugging later.
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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 game-theory structure do the real work? Name the single observation that collapsed the search space.
Could you have reached the bfs-dfs 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 the stated bound 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 'bfs-dfs' underneath?
State the transferable technique in one sentence, without mentioning this problem's story at all.
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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: #644 · #982 · #331
- 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.