From: Ruby Quiz <james@...>
Date: 2004-11-12T23:19:24+09:00
Subject: [QUIZ] Countdown (#7)

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by Brian Candler

One of the longest-running quiz shows on UK TV is called Countdown, and has
a "numbers round". There are some cards laid face down in front of the host
- the top row contains 'large' numbers (from the set 25, 50, 75, 100), and
the rest are 'small' (1 to 10). Six cards are picked and displayed: the
choice is made by one of the contestants, who typically will ask for one
large number and five small ones.

Next, a machine called "Cecil" picks a target number between 100 and 999 at
random. The contestants then have 30 seconds to find a way of combining the
source numbers using the normal arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /) to make
the target number, or to get as close as possible.

Each source card can be used no more than once. The same applies to any
intermediate results, although of course you don't have to explicitly show
the intermediate results.

	Example:  source 100 5 5 2 6 8, target 522
	
	100 * 5 = 500
	  5 + 6 =  11
	 11 * 2 =  22
	500 + 22 = 522
	
	or more succinctly, (5*100)+((5+6)*2) = 522
	
	Another solution is (100+6)*5-8 = 522

Normal arithmetic rules apply, and in particular you are not allowed to use
integer rounding. That is, 7 divided by 3 is 2 1/3, not 2.

The quiz is to write a program which will accept one target number and a
list of source numbers, and generate a solution which calculates the target
or a number as close to the target as possible.