JULY18-Why did random solution also gave nearly 100 points in challenge problem WARTARAN

general
, ,
1

I attempted the challenge problem WARTARAN- https://www.codechef.com/JULY18A/problems/WARTARAN in codechef july long challenge, and got 98 points, even though My solution was almost random with a bit of strategy, and even then I managed to get nearly 100 points. Were the test cases weak, or was no one able to get near to the optimal solution(as challenge problems are relative).
My solution link: https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/19218764

2

@taran_1407
@vijju123

3

It’s the problem itself which is very weak. The greedy/random approach is very close to the optimal solution.

3 Likes
4

98 is not the point… point is u got less than 100 and 99.999 points… ur rank will be less even though u got 99… its all relative…
Just my opinion… no offence…

1 Like
5

Agreed, but 98 shows that how close I am to the best solution given by other participants, and according to me a random approach does not deserve to be this close to the best score.

1 Like
6

Is there any proof, as to why my approach is close to the optimal approach

7

I seriously wonder why codechef gives challenge problem in which “nothing is to be solved” and you can just use random and a “normal implementation” to get a lot of points. Seriously, this need to be changed.

1 Like
8

Has this happened in previous contests too?

9

Yes in one problem I had seen by printing just given array you were able to score 85 points.

10

What can they do? They arent getting some good proposals for challenge problems, so its not like they choose these problems out of 1000.

3 Likes
11

this does not happen frequently @pshishod2645

1 Like
12

@vijju123 That’s true, problem making isn’t easy, and it requires a lot of efforts. I wasn’t criticizing the problem or the problem maker at all, In fact, I actually found the problem to be good, as it was not only a challenge problem but an interactive one as well. I just wanted to know how close am I to the optimal solution.

btw one good interactive problem I encountered a few days back : http://codeforces.com/contest/680/problem/C

13

When i set this problem, only doubt i had was the variety of approaches and the best score, the judge being deterministic as against randomly choosing robots for judge. Seems like my fears came true in worst possible manner.

I will try to set next problem with an evenly distributed scoring function if ever i write another challenge problem.

2 Likes