Advent of Code 2016 Day 24
Part 1
- This seems familiar...
- It may be doable visually!
- Uncovering shorter and shorter paths
- Counting the steps
- Guessing...again and again
- My shortest path, not the shortest path
- Pulling my hair out to find a shorter path
This seems familiar...
...to 2019 Day 18: Many-Worlds Interpretation:
- Designated starting spot:
0
here instead of@
there - An elaborate maze
- Markers to pass through or collect
- In search of the shortest path from start to collecting or passing through all markers
It may be doable visually!
- Many-Worlds featured dozens of keys and doors in a large square maze
- The number of possible routes seemed endless
- Here, however, there are only seven markers
- And the maze is relatively smaller - though no less elaborate
It is definitely worth my time analyzing the maze and attempting to identify some shortest paths between a few of the numbers 0-7
.
Uncovering shorter and shorter paths
These are the locations of the numbers 0-7
:
After a few hours of careful navigation, these are the shortest paths I found:
Before attempting to count each step between numbers, these are the paths that seem viable:
- 01376542
- 01352467
- 01732456
- 01765423
Counting the steps
- I've done it before
- It's not fun
- But it's all I can do
At least it makes for a cool GIF:
Guessing...again and again
My initial tallies:
0:1 22
1:3 64
1:7 54
7:3 79
5:6 20
4:5 80
2:4 32
I decided to try the most promising path first:
01732456
0:1 22
1:7 54
7:3 79
3:2 216
2:4 32
4:5 80
5:6 20
-------
503: too high
Thankfully, the website told me too high
.
Sadly, I wasted a guess hoping for dumb luck:
- I submitted 500, seeing if I was one off
- Still too high
Even worse, I wasted another guess!
- I submitted 495
- Still too high
Time to try another path:
01765423
0:1 22
1:7 54
7:6 198
6:5 20
5:4 80
4:2 32
2:3 216
-------
over 503, yikes
Then, I saw it: 3
to 6
!
I have no idea if this is the shortest path, but it's definitely an optimization:
01736542
0:1 22
1:7 54
7:3 79
3:6 147
6:5 20
5:4 80
4:2 32
-------
434: wrong
Bummer.
Even worse, I submitted too many guesses to get the direction I should be headed.
I must assume that there's a shorter path.
First, I'll try to find one between 3 and 6.
I tried. Couldn't find any that are shorter.
My shortest path, not the shortest path
Pulling my hair out to find a shorter path
I tried re-counting the path - same number:
I tried the only other viable path - higher number:
No matter what I found, nothing beat my shortest path.
Grrr.
An admirable attempt
- I tried to solve this puzzle visually
- After hours of hunting, I couldn't find the shortest path
To anyone reading this:
- What am I not seeing?
Anyway, time to move on.
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