Break This Combination
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ProblemIn this sample problem, we will design a program that can determine the sequence of a combination lock, and keep track of the number of attempts until the combination is broken. The program will begin by prompting the user to configure their combination lock. The user will then enter in THREE numbers ranging from 0 to NUM_POSSIBILITIES (in this example, we will assume NUM_POSSIBILITIES to be 59, but you may change this within the source code to a larger or smaller number if you like). We will store each number within an integer array of size 3, since there are three numbers that we need to select in sequence in order to break the lock. After the lock has been configured, the program will then proceed in attempting to break the lock. After every attempt, the program should increment a counter, num_attempts, until the lock has been broken.
Breaking combination... *** Combination broken *** Sequence: [44][21][12] Attempts: 159673 *** END OF PROCESSING. *** |
Problem Solving and Programming Examples | |
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SolutionTo solve the problem you have to what you need to solve this problem. final int NUM_POSSIBILITIES = 59; // you can change this to any size you like final int NUM_DIALS = 3; Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in); //will get the input number String input; // what we'll be using for input... we'll parse each input string to an int int[] combo = new int[3]; // the combination lock boolean found = false; // so we know when to stop... int num_attempts = 0; // we'll keep track of the number of attempts
// read in combination for (int i = 0; i < NUM_DIALS; i++) { // this command allows the user to enter a number System.out.print("Enter a number from 0 to " + NUM_POSSIBILITIES + " for the combination: ") input = keyboard.next(); // now assign it to a spot in our int array combo[i] = Integer.parseInt(input); }//end for Enter a number from 0 to 59 for the combination: 5 Enter a number from 0 to 59 for the combination: 10 Enter a number from 0 to 59 for the combination: 45
for (int i = 0; i <= NUM_POSSIBILITIES && !found; i++) { for (int j = 0; j <= NUM_POSSIBILITIES && !found; j++) { for (int k = 0; k <= NUM_POSSIBILITIES && !found; k++) { num_attempts++; // increment the number of attempts // more code here }//end for }//end for }//end for
// if we have the right sequence of numbers, then we've broken // the lock! if (i == combo[0] && j == combo[1] && k == combo[2]) { System.out.println("*** Combination broken ***"); System.out.println("Sequence: [" + i + "][" + j + "][" + k + "]"); System.out.println("Attempts: " + num_attempts); found = true; }//end if Breaking combination... *** Combination broken *** Sequence: [5][10][45] Attempts: 18646 *** END OF PROCESSING. ***
if (!found) { System.out.println("*** Could not break combination. ***"); }//end if Enter a number from 0 to 59 for the combination: 30 Enter a number from 0 to 59 for the combination: 89 Enter a number from 0 to 59 for the combination: 29 Breaking combination... *** Could not break combination. *** *** END OF PROCESSING. *** | ||
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