Solve a puzzle posed on NPR (see: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/29/146034893/this-puzzle-is-the-pits - "Next Week" section )

puzzle.ml

(* Inspired by this puzzle from NPR:
 http://www.npr.org/2012/01/29/146034893/this-puzzle-is-the-pits 
 (see the 'Next Weeks' challenge section there):
 "Next Week's Challenge from listener Ed Pegg Jr.: Write the digits from 
 1 to 9 in a line. If you put times signs after the 2 and 4, a plus 
 sign after the 5, and a minus sign after the 7, you have 
 12 x 34 x 5 + 67 - 89, which equals 2018.
 That's six years off from our current year 2012. This example uses 
 four arithmetic symbols. The object is to use just three of the 
 following arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication 
 and division, in a line from 1 to 9 to get 2012 exactly. The operations 
 should be performed in order from left to right" *)

(*NOTE: the difference in my implementation is that instead of the 
 * operations being performed left to right, I follow mathematical
 * precedence: perform * and / first, then perform + and -
 *)

(* This program solves the puzzle above using a genetic algorithm *)
Random.init 42 ;;
let nums = [1;   2;   3;   4;   5;   6;   7;   8;   9];;
let num_size   = List.length nums;;
let ops_size = num_size - 1 ;;
let target = 2012;;
let mutation_rate = 0.10 ;;

(* for future random proportional selection *)
module RouletteSel = struct
  type gene = string list
  type roulette_item = { individual: gene;
                         range_f:    float->bool } 
end;;

exception SizeMismatch;;


let num_to_op rn = match rn with 
         0  -> "C"
       | 1  -> "+"
       | 2  -> "-"
       | 3  -> "*"
       | 4  -> "/"   
       | _  -> "C" ;;

(* C + - * /  *)
let  build_rnd_ops len = 

  let rec aux outlst len' = match len' with
    0 -> outlst 
  | _ -> 
         let rndnum = Random.int 5 in
         let op = num_to_op rndnum in
         aux (op::outlst) (len'-1) in
  aux [] len ;;

let rotate_left lst = (List.tl lst) @ [(List.hd lst)] ;;

let rotate_right lst = List.rev (rotate_left (List.rev lst));;

let mutate ops = 
  let ops_len = List.length ops in
  let copy_all_but oplst n newop = 
    let rec aux inlst outlst i = match inlst with
      []    -> List.rev outlst
    | x::xs -> let op = if i = n then
                          newop
                        else
                           x  in
               (aux xs (op::outlst) (i+1)) in
    aux ops [] 0 in

  if (Random.float 1.0 ) < mutation_rate then
    copy_all_but ops (Random.int ops_len ) (num_to_op (Random.int 5)) 
  else
    ops ;;
   

let combine n_lst op_lst  = 
  let op_lst_len = List.length op_lst in
  let rec build' n_lst' outlst i = match n_lst' with 
      []    ->  List.rev outlst
   |  n::ns ->  if i < op_lst_len then
                  build' ns ( (List.nth op_lst i)::n::outlst) (i+1) 
                else 
                  build' ns ( n::outlst) (i+1) in
   build' n_lst [] 0 ;;

let cross a b = 
  let rec aux a' b' aout bout = match (a',b') with
    ([],[]) -> [List.rev aout; List.rev bout]
  | (an1::an2::a3::[], bn1::bn2::b3::[]) -> 
      aux [] [] (a3::bn2::an1::aout) (b3::an2::bn1::bout)
  | (an1::an2::ans, bn1::bn2::bns) -> 
      aux ans bns (bn2::an1::aout) (an2::bn1::bout) 
  | (_::[],[]) | ([], _::[]) | (_,_) -> raise  SizeMismatch in
  aux a b [] [] ;;

let rec scramble lst = match lst with
  | [] -> []
  | [a] -> [a]
  | x::y::t -> y::x::scramble t ;;

let swap_ops lst = 
  let len = List.length lst in
  let r1  = Random.int len in
  let r2  = Random.int len in
  let e1  = List.nth lst r1 in
  let e2  = List.nth lst r2 in
  let rec mapi i accum l = match l with
  | [] -> List.rev accum
  | x::xs -> let item = (match i with
                 a when a = r1 -> e2
              |  b when b = r2 -> e1
              |  _  -> x
             ) in
             mapi (i+1) (item::accum) xs in 
  mapi 0 [] lst ;;


let cat n_oplst =
  let rec do_cat nolst outs accum = match nolst with
     []   -> List.rev outs
  |  n::op::nos -> if op = "C" then
                     do_cat nos outs (accum ^ n) 
                   else 
                     do_cat nos (op::(accum^n)::outs) "" 
  | n::[]       -> do_cat [] ((accum^n)::outs) (accum^n)
                   in
     do_cat n_oplst [] "";;


let do_mult_div lst = 
  let rec md nlst outs accum oper = match nlst with
     []        -> List.rev outs
  |  n::op::ns -> let n' = int_of_string n in
                  (match op with
                    "*" -> md ns outs (oper accum n' ) ( * )
                  | "/" -> md ns outs (oper accum n' ) ( / )
                  | _   -> md ns 
                           (op:: (string_of_int (oper accum n')) ::outs) 
                           1 oper 
                  ) 
  |  n::[]     -> let n' = int_of_string n in 
                  md [] ( (string_of_int(oper accum n'))::outs ) (oper accum n') oper in
    md lst [] 1 ( * ) ;;

let do_add_sub lst = 
  let rec addsub nlst outs accum oper = match nlst with
    []         -> List.rev outs
  | n::op::ns  -> let n' = int_of_string n in 
                  (match op with
                    "+" -> addsub ns outs (oper accum n') ( + )
                  | "-" -> addsub ns outs (oper accum n') ( - )
                  | _   -> addsub ns (op:: (string_of_int (oper accum n'))::outs) 0 oper )
  | n::[]      -> let n' = int_of_string n in
                  addsub [] ((string_of_int(oper accum n'))::outs) (oper accum n') oper in

  addsub lst [] 0 ( + ) ;;

let create_pop size = 
  let rec aux pop s = match s with
    0 -> pop
  | _ -> aux ((build_rnd_ops ops_size)::pop) (s-1) in
  aux [] size ;;

    
let ( |> ) a b = b a ;;
exception EvalError;;


let eval lst = 
  let lst' = (combine (List.map (fun x -> string_of_int x) nums) lst) in
  let res_lst = (cat lst' |> do_mult_div |> do_add_sub) in
  if (List.length res_lst > 1) || (List.length res_lst = 0) then
     raise EvalError
  else int_of_string( List.nth res_lst 0) ;;


let delta t n =  abs (t - n)  ;;

let rank_pop pop = List.sort (fun a b -> 
                                if abs (target - (fst a)) > abs (target - (fst b)) then
                                  1
                                 else if a = b then 
                                  0
                                 else -1
           ) (List.map (fun e -> 
                            (eval e) , e ) pop) ;;


let runit gens = 
  let population = create_pop 24 in
  let rec aux pop gen bestest  = match gen with
    0 -> (eval bestest),bestest,(rank_pop pop)
  | _ -> let ranked_pop = rank_pop pop  in 
         let best1 = snd (List.nth ranked_pop 0) in
         let best2 = snd (List.nth ranked_pop 1) in    
         let pop' = List.map (fun i -> mutate i )  
                    (cross best1 best2) @ 
                    (cross (List.rev best2) best1) @
                    (cross  best2 (List.rev best1)) @
                    (create_pop 17) in
         let pop'' = pop' @ [ bestest] in (*don't mutate bestest *)
         aux pop'' (gen-1) 
                   (if (delta target (eval best1)) < 
                       (delta target (eval bestest)) then
                      (
                       (Printf.printf "gen: %d: best1 better than bestest: %d : %d\n" 
                        (gens-gen) (eval best1)  (eval bestest)  );
                        best1
                      )
                    else
                      bestest
                    )in
  aux population gens (List.nth population 0) 
                      ;;

let value, best, ranked_pop = runit 5000 ;;

List.map (fun x -> 
            Printf.printf "%s : %d\n" 
               (String.concat "" 
                     (combine (List.map (fun s -> string_of_int s) nums) (snd x)
                     )) 
               (fst x) ) ranked_pop ;;


let best = List.nth ranked_pop 0 in
Printf.printf "Best answer is: %s = %d\n" 
               (String.concat "" 
                 (List.filter (fun cr -> cr <> "C" ) 
                    (combine (List.map 
                             (fun s -> string_of_int s) nums) 
                             (snd best)
                    )
                 )
               ) 
               (fst best);;

Aside from a week or two of tinkering in 2006 and seeing your presentation in 2009, I have no real background with OCaml.

What's going on with ops? First there is a let assignment, but then there is a type declaration. Does ops refer to the same thing in both places?

No, not the same thing. the first 'let ops = [...' defines a list of strings. It was only there for some earlier testing, so I've removed it now to avoid confusion. The second 'type ops = ' defines a variant type...and oh, hey, I don't use that type anymore so I'll remove that one too. There's apparently no problem with collisions between typenames and names for other things. Phil

…

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 3:05 PM, Matt Youell ***@***.*** wrote: Aside from a week or two of tinkering in 2006 and seeing your presentation in 2009, I have no real background with OCaml. What's going on with `ops`? First there is a `let` assignment, but then there is a `type` declaration. Does `ops` refer to the same thing in both places? --- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://gist.github.com/1968056