# # Solution to Project Euler problem 88 # Copyright (c) Project Nayuki. All rights reserved. # # https://www.nayuki.io/page/project-euler-solutions # https://github.com/nayuki/Project-Euler-solutions # # minSumProduct[k] is the smallest positive integers that can be written as both a sum and a product of the same collection of k positive integers. # For example, minSumProduct[3] = 6 because 6 = 1 + 2 + 3 = 1 * 2 * 3, and this is the minimum possible number for 3 terms. # # For all k >= 2: # - minSumProduct[k] > k because 1 + ... + 1 (with k terms) = k, which is the minimum sum of k positive integers, # but the product is 1 which is unequal to k, so k is not a valid solution. # - minSumProduct[k] <= 2k because 1 + ... + 1 + 2 + k (with k terms in total) = (k - 2) + 2 + k = 2k. The product is 2k, which equals the sum. # Since this is one achievable solution, the minimum solution must be no larger than this. # - Aside: minSumProduct[k] is not a prime number. Suppose minSumProduct[k] = p, where p is prime. Then p can only be factorized as p, p * 1, p * 1 * 1, etc. # So whenever the factorization has more than one term, the sum exceeds p, which makes it unequal to the product. # # Therefore we need to consider all numbers from 2 to LIMIT*2 and factorize them in all possible ways to find all the relevant solutions. def compute(): LIMIT = 12000 minsumproduct = [None] * (LIMIT + 1) # Calculates all factorizations of the integer n >= 2 and updates smaller solutions into minSumProduct. # For example, 12 can be factorized as follows - and duplicates are eliminated by finding only non-increasing sequences of factors: # - 12 = 12. (1 term) # - 12 = 6 * 2 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 = 6 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. (6 terms) # - 12 = 4 * 3 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 = 4 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. (7 terms) # - 12 = 3 * 2 * 2 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 = 3 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. (8 terms) def factorize(n, remain, maxfactor, sum, terms): if remain == 1: if sum > n: # Without using factors of 1, the sum never exceeds the product raise AssertionError() terms += n - sum if terms <= LIMIT and (minsumproduct[terms] is None or n < minsumproduct[terms]): minsumproduct[terms] = n else: # Note: maxfactor <= remain for i in range(2, maxfactor + 1): if remain % i == 0: factor = i factorize(n, remain // factor, min(factor, maxfactor), sum + factor, terms + 1) for i in range(2, LIMIT * 2 + 1): factorize(i, i, i, 0, 0) # Eliminate duplicates and compute sum ans = sum(set(minsumproduct[2 : ])) return str(ans) if __name__ == "__main__": print(compute())