I'm working on Euler Problem 14:
http://projecteuler.net/index.php?section=problems&id=14
I figured the best way would be to create a vector of numbers that kept track of how big the series was for that number... for example from 5 there are 6 steps to 1, so if ever reach the number 5 in a series, I know I have 6 steps to go and I have no need to calculate those steps. With this idea I coded up the following:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
vector<int> sizes(1);
sizes.push_back(1);
sizes.push_back(2);
int series, largest = 0, j;
for (int i = 3; i <= 1000000; i++)
{
series = 0;
j = i;
while (j > (sizes.size()-1))
{
if (j%2)
{
j=(3*j+1)/2;
series+=2;
}
else
{
j=j/2;
series++;
}
}
series+=sizes[j];
sizes.push_back(series);
if (series>largest)
largest=series;
cout << setw(7) << right << i << "::" << setw(5) << right << series << endl;
}
cout << largest << endl;
return 0;
}
It seems to work relatively well for smaller numbers but this specific program stalls at the number 113382. Can anyone explain to me how I would go about figuring out why it freezes at this number?
Is there some way I could modify my algorithim to be better? I realize that I am creating duplicates with the current way I'm doing it:
for example, the series of 3 is 3,10,5,16,8,4,2,1. So I already figured out the sizes for 10,5,16,8,4,2,1 but I will duplicate those solutions later.
Thanks for your help!