This is one of the OLD POTM problems
Long version of the problem.
Back to the list of problems.
Short Problem Description
Programmer Of The Month (POTM) contest ... THE SUMMER EDITION ....
Deadline for this one is midnight on Tuesday August 31, 1993.
How hard is it to look up a word in a dictionary when
you don't know how to spell the word?
How hard is it to find the "correct" number in a list
when all you have is a number where you think that
"most" of the digits are OK?
This latter question is the subject of the Summer POTM: MR. NOISE!
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Here is the model ...
-------------
TRUE NUMBERS -> | Mr. Noise | -> CORRUPTED NUMBERS -> ----------------
/\ ------------- | |
/||\ | Your Program |
|| | |
LIST OF GOOD NUMBERS -------------------------------> ----------------
||
\||/
I'll tell you all about what Mr. Noise does to the \/
numbers, and I'll score you on how well YOUR GUESSES YOUR GUESSES
match the TRUE NUMBERS I start with. In fact,
the actual Mr.Noise shell program is provided below!
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If you deduce a TRUE NUMBER you get a reward (10). If you give up,
you get a smaller reward (3). If you guess WRONG, you get nothing!
(For example, the TRUE number is 5551212. Mr. Noise corrupted it
to 55612192. You have to determine that the intended number in the
good number list was really 5551212.)