Well, I just completed the TopCoder SRM 257, and I didn’t even get one problem solved.
The first problem was find the minimum error ( difference ) for a weighted average.
You used 5 weights, with a sum 1.0, that last bit (sum of 1.0) I forgot, so spent the whole time trying to workout why my result was different from the example. Also the run time was too long for the bigger dataset. Not till coding phase was over and I started reading other people solutions did I see my error. GRRRR. So I’m not sure how badly it will affect my ranking, but I’m think its going to hurt. Maybe I’ll get put into the second division, which will be easier, but not as much fun as playing with the big boys in Div I.
So tonight instead of doing game development, I’m going to solve the other two problems that I didn’t even start.