Krypto

In the 2016 Year Game, the task was to generate the numbers 0 to 100 using APL primitives and the digits 2 0 1 6 in that order. For example,

   20=16
   ×2016
   2⌊016
   2+×016
   …

This “puzzle of the year” brings to mind Krypto, a game I played many years ago while in grade school.

Krypto

Krypto is a mathematical card game. The Krypto deck has 56 cards: 3 each of numbers 1-6, 4 each of the numbers 7-10, 2 each of 11-17, 1 each of 18-25.

   ⎕io←0
   DECK ← (3/1+⍳6),(4/7+⍳4),(2/11+⍳7),18+⍳8

Six cards are dealt: an objective card and five other cards. A player must use all five of the latter cards’ numbers exactly once, using any combination of arithmetic operations (+, -, ×, and ÷) to form the objective card’s number. The first player to come up with a correct formula is the winner. The stricter “International Rules” specify the use of non-negative integers only; fractional or negative intermediate results are not permitted.

For example, if the objective card were 17 and the other cards were 2, 8, 14, 19, and 21, then a Krypto solution can be as follows. Without loss of generality, we use APL notation and syntax.

   8 - 19 + 14 - 2 × 21

In this article we present functions to find all solutions to a Krypto hand.

A Solution

There are a maximum of !5 permutations of the 5 cards and 4 possibilities in each of the 4 places where an operation can be put, for (!5)×4*4 or 30720 total possibilities. This number is small enough for an exhaustive approach.

deal←{DECK ⌷⍨⊂ 6?≢DECK}

Krypto←{
  perm←{0=⍵:1 0⍴0 ⋄ ,[⍳2](⊂0,1+∇ ¯1+⍵)⌷⍤1⍒⍤1∘.=⍨⍳⍵}
  a←256⌿5 0⍕⍵[perm 5]
  a[;6+5×⍳4]←'+-×÷'[((256×!5),4)⍴⍉(4⍴4)⊤⍳256]
  ⊣⌸ a ⌿⍨ ⍺ = ⍎⍤1 ⊢a
}

   deal ⍬
17 8 19 14 2 21

   ⊢ t← 17 Krypto 8 19 14 2 21
    8 - 19 + 14 -  2 × 21
    8 - 19 + 14 - 21 ×  2
    8 - 19 - 21 + 14 ÷  2
    8 - 14 + 19 -  2 × 21
        ...
   21 +  8 - 19 - 14 ÷  2
   21 - 19 -  8 + 14 ÷  2

   ⍴ t
24 25

Intermediate Steps

The function perm is from the Dyalog blog post Permutations, 2015-07-20. perm n generates the sorted table of all permutations of ⍳n.

The local variable a in Krypto is a 30720-row character matrix computed from the 5 non-objective numbers. It consists of all !5 permutations of the 5 numbers interspersed with all 4*4 arrangements of the four operations + - × ÷.

Executing the rows of a produces a 30720-element numeric vector. Comparison of this vector with the objective yields a boolean vector that selects the rows of a which are correct formulas.

   ⍴ a
30720 25

   8↑a
    8 + 19 + 14 +  2 + 21
    8 + 19 + 14 +  2 - 21
    8 + 19 + 14 +  2 × 21
    8 + 19 + 14 +  2 ÷ 21
    8 + 19 + 14 -  2 + 21
    8 + 19 + 14 -  2 - 21
    8 + 19 + 14 -  2 × 21
    8 + 19 + 14 -  2 ÷ 21
   ¯5↑a
   21 ÷  2 ÷ 14 × 19 ÷  8
   21 ÷  2 ÷ 14 ÷ 19 +  8
   21 ÷  2 ÷ 14 ÷ 19 -  8
   21 ÷  2 ÷ 14 ÷ 19 ×  8
   21 ÷  2 ÷ 14 ÷ 19 ÷  8

   +/ b ← 17 = ⍎⍤1 ⊢a
24

   t ≡ b⌿a
1

We note that use of the @ operator, new to Dyalog version 16.0, obviates the need to name intermediate results for reasons for syntax. Instead, names are only used to break the code down into more comprehensible components.

Krypto1←{
  perm←{0=⍵:1 0⍴0 ⋄ ,[⍳2](⊂0,1+∇ ¯1+⍵)⌷⍤1⍒⍤1∘.=⍨⍳⍵}
  ⊣⌸ ⍺ (⊢(⌿⍨)=∘(⍎⍤1)) '+-×÷'[((256×!5),4)⍴⍉(4⍴4)⊤⍳256]⊣@(6+5×⍳4)⍤1 ⊢256⌿5 0⍕⍵[perm 5]
}

Krypto2←{
  perm←{0=⍵:1 0⍴0 ⋄ ,[⍳2](⊂0,1+∇ ¯1+⍵)⌷⍤1⍒⍤1∘.=⍨⍳⍵}
  fns  ← '+-×÷'[((256×!5),4)⍴⍉(4⍴4)⊤⍳256]
  nums ← 256⌿5 0⍕⍵[perm 5]
  ⊣⌸ ⍺ (⊢(⌿⍨)=∘(⍎⍤1)) fns ⊣@(6+5×⍳4)⍤1 ⊢nums
}

   17 (Krypto ≡ Krypto1) 8 19 14 2 21
1

   17 (Krypto ≡ Krypto2) 8 19 14 2 21
1

International Rules

The international rules (intermediate results must be non-negative integers) can be enforced readily:

irules←{⍵⌿⍨∧/(i=⌊i)∧0≤i←8 13 18{⍎¨⍺↓¨⊂⍵}⍤1⊢⍵}

   irules 17 Krypto 8 19 14 2 21
    8 +  2 + 14 ÷ 21 - 19
    8 + 21 - 19 - 14 ÷  2
   19 -  2 ×  8 - 21 - 14
   19 -  2 ÷  8 - 21 - 14
   19 -  2 × 14 - 21 -  8
   19 -  2 ÷ 14 - 21 -  8
    2 +  8 + 14 ÷ 21 - 19
   21 - 19 -  8 + 14 ÷  2

It is instructive to look at how the local variable i in irules is formed:

   ⊢ t←17 Krypto 8 19 14 2 21
    8 - 19 + 14 -  2 × 21
    8 - 19 + 14 - 21 ×  2
    8 - 19 - 21 + 14 ÷  2
    8 - 14 + 19 -  2 × 21
        ...
   21 +  8 - 19 - 14 ÷  2
   21 - 19 -  8 + 14 ÷  2

   8 13 18 {⍺↓¨⊂⍵}⍤1 ⊢t
┌─────────────────┬────────────┬───────┐
│19 + 14 -  2 × 21│14 -  2 × 21│ 2 × 21│
├─────────────────┼────────────┼───────┤
│19 + 14 - 21 ×  2│14 - 21 ×  2│21 ×  2│
├─────────────────┼────────────┼───────┤
│19 - 21 + 14 ÷  2│21 + 14 ÷  2│14 ÷  2│
├─────────────────┼────────────┼───────┤
│14 + 19 -  2 × 21│19 -  2 × 21│ 2 × 21│
├─────────────────┼────────────┼───────┤
            ...
├─────────────────┼────────────┼───────┤
│ 8 - 19 - 14 ÷  2│19 - 14 ÷  2│14 ÷  2│
├─────────────────┼────────────┼───────┤
│19 -  8 + 14 ÷  2│ 8 + 14 ÷  2│14 ÷  2│
└─────────────────┴────────────┴───────┘

      ⍎¨ 8 13 18 {⍺↓¨⊂⍵}⍤1 ⊢t
¯9 ¯28  42
¯9 ¯28  42
¯9  28   7
¯9 ¯23  42
   ...
¯4  12   7
 4  15   7

(An earlier version of the text appeared as the Jwiki essay Krypto, 2013-07-04.)

Stencil Maneuvers

Introduction

The e-mail arrived in the early afternoon from Morten, in Finland attending the FinnAPL Forest Seminar.

How do I speed this up and impress the Finns?

0 cmpx 'e←⊃∨/0.2 edges¨r g b'
6.4E¯1
edges
{⍺←0.7 ⋄ 1 1↓¯1 ¯1↓⍺<(|EdgeDetect apply ⍵)÷1⌈(+⌿÷≢),⍵}
apply
{stencil←⍺ ⋄ {+/,⍵×stencil}⌺(⍴stencil)⊢⍵}
EdgeDetect
¯1 ¯1 ¯1
¯1 8 ¯1
¯1 ¯1 ¯1

(r g b in the attached ws)

Background

is stencil, a new dyadic operator which will be available in version 16.0. In brief, f⌺s applies the operand function f to windows of size s. The window is moved over the argument centered over every possible position. The size is commonly odd and the movement commonly 1. For example:

   {⊂⍵}⌺5 3⊢6 5⍴⍳30
┌───────┬────────┬────────┬────────┬───────┐
│0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0 0│
│0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0 0│
│0  1  2│ 1  2  3│ 2  3  4│ 3  4  5│ 4  5 0│
│0  6  7│ 6  7  8│ 7  8  9│ 8  9 10│ 9 10 0│
│0 11 12│11 12 13│12 13 14│13 14 15│14 15 0│
├───────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼───────┤
│0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0 0│
│0  1  2│ 1  2  3│ 2  3  4│ 3  4  5│ 4  5 0│
│0  6  7│ 6  7  8│ 7  8  9│ 8  9 10│ 9 10 0│
│0 11 12│11 12 13│12 13 14│13 14 15│14 15 0│
│0 16 17│16 17 18│17 18 19│18 19 20│19 20 0│
├───────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼───────┤
│0  1  2│ 1  2  3│ 2  3  4│ 3  4  5│ 4  5 0│
│0  6  7│ 6  7  8│ 7  8  9│ 8  9 10│ 9 10 0│
│0 11 12│11 12 13│12 13 14│13 14 15│14 15 0│
│0 16 17│16 17 18│17 18 19│18 19 20│19 20 0│
│0 21 22│21 22 23│22 23 24│23 24 25│24 25 0│
├───────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼───────┤
│0  6  7│ 6  7  8│ 7  8  9│ 8  9 10│ 9 10 0│
│0 11 12│11 12 13│12 13 14│13 14 15│14 15 0│
│0 16 17│16 17 18│17 18 19│18 19 20│19 20 0│
│0 21 22│21 22 23│22 23 24│23 24 25│24 25 0│
│0 26 27│26 27 28│27 28 29│28 29 30│29 30 0│
├───────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼───────┤
│0 11 12│11 12 13│12 13 14│13 14 15│14 15 0│
│0 16 17│16 17 18│17 18 19│18 19 20│19 20 0│
│0 21 22│21 22 23│22 23 24│23 24 25│24 25 0│
│0 26 27│26 27 28│27 28 29│28 29 30│29 30 0│
│0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0 0│
├───────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼───────┤
│0 16 17│16 17 18│17 18 19│18 19 20│19 20 0│
│0 21 22│21 22 23│22 23 24│23 24 25│24 25 0│
│0 26 27│26 27 28│27 28 29│28 29 30│29 30 0│
│0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0 0│
│0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0  0│ 0  0 0│
└───────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴───────┘
   {+/,⍵}⌺5 3⊢6 5⍴⍳30
 39  63  72  81  57
 72 114 126 138  96
115 180 195 210 145
165 255 270 285 195
152 234 246 258 176
129 198 207 216 147

In addition, for matrix right arguments with movement 1, special code is provided for the following operand functions:

{∧/,⍵}   {∨/,⍵}   {=/,⍵}   {≠/,⍵} 

{⍵}      {,⍵}     {⊂⍵}     {+/,⍵}

{+/,A×⍵}     {E<+/,A×⍵}       
{+/⍪A×⍤2⊢⍵}  {E<+/⍪A×⍤2⊢⍵}

The comparison < can be one of < ≤ = ≠ ≥ >.

The variables r g b in the problem are integer matrices with shape 227 316 having values between 0 and 255. For present purposes we can initialize them to random values:

   r←¯1+?227 316⍴256
   g←¯1+?227 316⍴256
   b←¯1+?227 316⍴256

Opening Moves

I had other obligations and did not attend to the problem until 7 PM. A low-hanging fruit was immediately apparent: {+/,⍵×A}⌺s is not implemented by special code but {+/,A×⍵}⌺s is. The difference in performance is significant:

   edges1←{⍺←0.7 ⋄ 1 1↓¯1 ¯1↓⍺<(|EdgeDetect apply1 ⍵)÷1⌈(+⌿÷≢),⍵}
   apply1←{stencil←⍺ ⋄ {+/,stencil×⍵}⌺(⍴stencil)⊢⍵}

   cmpx 'e←⊃∨/0.2 edges1¨r g b' 'e←⊃∨/0.2 edges ¨r g b'
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges1¨r g b → 8.0E¯3 |     0% ⎕
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges ¨r g b → 6.1E¯1 | +7559% ⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕

I fired off an e-mail reporting this good result, then turned to other more urgent matters. An example of the good being an enemy of the better, I suppose.

When I returned to the problem at 11 PM, the smug good feelings have largely dissipated:

  • Why should {+/,A×⍵}⌺s be so much faster than {+/,⍵×A}⌺s? That is, why is there special code for the former but not the latter? (Answer: all the special codes end with … ⍵}.)
  • I can not win: If the factor is small, then why isn’t it larger; if it is large, it’s only because the original code wasn’t very good.
  • The large factor is because, for this problem, C (special code) is still so much faster than APL (magic function).
  • If the absolute value can somehow be replaced, the operand function can then be in the form {E<+/,A×⍵}⌺s, already implemented by special code. Alternatively, {E<|+/,A×⍵}⌺s can be implemented by new special code.

Regarding the last point, the performance improvement potentially can be:

   edges2←{⍺←0.7 ⋄ 1 1↓¯1 ¯1↓(⍺ EdgeDetect)apply2 ⍵}
   apply2←{threshold stencil←⍺ ⋄ 
                    {threshold<+/,stencil×⍵}⌺(⍴stencil)⊢⍵}

   cmpx (⊂'e←⊃∨/0.2 edges'),¨'21 ',¨⊂'¨r g b'
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges2¨r g b → 4.8E¯3 |      0%
* e←⊃∨/0.2 edges1¨r g b → 7.5E¯3 |    +57%
* e←⊃∨/0.2 edges ¨r g b → 7.4E¯1 | +15489% ⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕

The * in the result of cmpx indicates that the expressions don’t give the same results. That is expected; edges2 is not meant to give the same results but is to get a sense of the performance difference. (Here, an additional factor of 1.57.)

edges1 has the expression ⍺<matrix÷1⌈(+⌿÷≢),⍵ where and the divisor are both scalars. Reordering the expression eliminates one matrix operation: (⍺×1⌈(+⌿÷≢),⍵)<matrix. Thus:

   edges1a←{⍺←0.7 ⋄ 1 1↓¯1 ¯1↓(⍺×1⌈(+⌿÷≢),⍵)<|EdgeDetect apply1 ⍵}

   cmpx (⊂'e←⊃∨/0.2 edges'),¨('1a' '1 ' '  '),¨⊂'¨r g b'
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges1a¨r g b → 6.3E¯3 |      0%
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges1 ¨r g b → 7.6E¯3 |    +22%
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges  ¨r g b → 6.5E¯1 | +10232% ⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕

The time was almost 1 AM. To bed.

Further Maneuvers

Fresh and promising ideas came with the morning. The following discussion applies to the operand function {+/,A×⍵}.

(0) Scalar multiple: If all the elements of A are equal, then {+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r ←→ (⊃A)×{+/,⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r.

   A←3 3⍴?17
   ({+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) ≡ (⊃A)×{+/,⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r
1

(1) Sum v inner product: {+/,⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r is significantly faster than {+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r because the former exploits mathematical properties absent from the latter.

   A←?3 3⍴17
   cmpx '{+/,⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r' '{+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r'
  {+/,⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r   → 1.4E¯4 |    0% ⎕⎕⎕
* {+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r → 1.3E¯3 | +828% ⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕

(The * in the result of cmpx is expected.)

(2) Linearity: the stencil of the sum equals the sum of the stencils.

   A←?3 3⍴17
   B←?3 3⍴17
   ({+/,(A+B)×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) ≡ ({+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) + {+/,B×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r 
1

(3) Middle: If B is zero everywhere except the middle, then {+/,B×⍵}⌺(⍴B)⊢r ←→ mid×r where mid is the middle value.

   B←(⍴A)⍴0 0 0 0 9
   B
0 0 0
0 9 0
0 0 0
   ({+/,B×⍵}⌺(⍴B)⊢r) ≡ 9×r
1

(4) A faster solution.

   A←EdgeDetect
   B←(⍴A)⍴0 0 0 0 9
   C←(⍴A)⍴¯1
   A B C
┌────────┬─────┬────────┐
│¯1 ¯1 ¯1│0 0 0│¯1 ¯1 ¯1│
│¯1  8 ¯1│0 9 0│¯1 ¯1 ¯1│
│¯1 ¯1 ¯1│0 0 0│¯1 ¯1 ¯1│
└────────┴─────┴────────┘
   A ≡ B+C
1

Whence:

   ({+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) ≡ ({+/,B×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) + {+/,C×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r ⍝ (2)
1
   ({+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) ≡ ({+/,B×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) - {+/,⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r   ⍝ (0)
1
   ({+/,A×⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r) ≡ (9×r) - {+/,⍵}⌺(⍴A)⊢r                ⍝ (3)
1

Putting it all together:

edges3←{
  ⍺←0.7
  mid←⊃EdgeDetect↓⍨⌊2÷⍨⍴EdgeDetect
  1 1↓¯1 ¯1↓(⍺×1⌈(+⌿÷≢),⍵)<|(⍵×1+mid)-{+/,⍵}⌺(⍴EdgeDetect)⊢⍵
}

Comparing the various edges:

   x←(⊂'e←⊃∨/0.2 edges'),¨('3 ' '2 ' '1a' '1 ' '  '),¨⊂'¨r g b'
   cmpx x
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges3 ¨r g b → 3.4E¯3 |      0%
* e←⊃∨/0.2 edges2 ¨r g b → 4.3E¯3 |    +25%
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges1a¨r g b → 6.4E¯3 |    +88%
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges1 ¨r g b → 7.5E¯3 |   +122%
  e←⊃∨/0.2 edges  ¨r g b → 6.5E¯1 | +19022% ⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕⎕
edges original
edges1 uses {+/,stencil×⍵} instead of {+/,⍵×stencil}
edges1a uses (⍺×mean,⍵)<matrix instead of ⍺<matrix÷mean,⍵
edges2 uses {threshold<+/,stencil×⍵}
edges3 uses the faster {+/,⍵} instead of {+/,stencil×⍵} and other maneuvers

Fin

I don’t know if the Finns would be impressed. The exercise has been amusing in any case.