From: James Gray <james@...>
Date: 2007-12-08T15:26:52+09:00
Subject: Re: Word Loop (#149)

On Dec 7, 2007, at 11:40 PM, Eugene Kalenkovich wrote:

> "Alex Fenton" <alex@deleteme.pressure.to> wrote in message
> news:x7j6j.1781$h35.792@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...
>> Phrogz wrote:
>>> On Dec 7, 1:45 pm, Ruby Quiz <ja...@grayproductions.net> wrote:
>>>> Given a single word as input try to find a repeated letter inside  
>>>> of it
>>>> such
>>>> that you can loop the text around and reuse that letter.  For  
>>>> example:
>>>>
>>>>        $ ruby word_loop.rb Mississippi
>>>>         i
>>>>         p
>>>>         p
>>>>        Mis
>>>>         ss
>>>>         si
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> Maybe it's because it's a Friday afternoon, but I don't understand  
>>> the
>>> quiz problem. Could someone who understands this try explaining it
>>> (without, of course, discussing any code or even pseudo-code to
>>> approach it).
>>
>> It took me a few monents too. The letters have to be arranged in a  
>> grid so
>> that by moving one square at a time, the word is spelled out. The  
>> test is
>> to see whether the word can be spelled out by, at some point,  
>> moving over
>> the same grid square twice.
>>
>> I'm taking from the MISSISSIPI example that moves have to be in the  
>> same
>> direction as the last move, or at a 90 degree angle to it,  
>> otherwise it
>> could be spelled by moving up back onto "S" after the second "I" in  
>> the
>> bottom right.
>>
>> a
>>
>
> Hmm..
> Looks like mississippi is ambiguous, what about
>
>  I
>  P
>  P
>  I
> MISS
>  SI
>
> ?

I don't see how this works with 90 degree turns in a clockwise  
direction, as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Of course, I'm never one to discourage experimentation.

James Edward Gray II