I said I was done blogging this year's MIT Mystery Hunt (and I might still renege on that and write some more), but except for one detail, this post is not really about this year's hunt.

( Long history of the hunt index; skip if you don't care about the past )

I qualified for round 2 already, but I woke up less than an hour into the time of round 1C, and I decided to check out what one of these rounds looks like live when you aren't competing. The answer is that you can see the scoreboard and the problems, but you can't download inputs (must less submit results) until the round ends. This let me mock- ( Read more... )

In my previous post, I noted the idea I had with only a few minutes left in the round to solve my one unsolved problem. Tonight I coded up that idea and confirmed it works ( Read more... )

I didn't qualify in round 1A last weekend. I blame tiredness; work has been taxing lately and it was at 9 PM on a Friday. I got the first problem easily enough, and I think I figured out the right algorithm to do problem B small and large inputs, which would have qualified me if I had completed it soon enough, but I was just too tired in the last ( Read more... )

The Qualification Round this year just ended. As I realized when competing for the first time last year, this round is really meant to distinguish those who know how to program (at all) from those who don't, and to introduce people to the system. You just needed to score 25 points to advance, out of a possible 90 points, and you have slightly over ( Read more... )