How to resolve the algorithm 100 doors step by step in the BCPL programming language

Published on 12 May 2024 09:40 PM

How to resolve the algorithm 100 doors step by step in the BCPL programming language

Table of Contents

Problem Statement

There are 100 doors in a row that are all initially closed. You make 100 passes by the doors. The first time through, visit every door and  toggle  the door  (if the door is closed,  open it;   if it is open,  close it). The second time, only visit every 2nd door   (door #2, #4, #6, ...),   and toggle it.
The third time, visit every 3rd door   (door #3, #6, #9, ...), etc,   until you only visit the 100th door.

Answer the question:   what state are the doors in after the last pass?   Which are open, which are closed?

Alternate:
As noted in this page's   discussion page,   the only doors that remain open are those whose numbers are perfect squares. Opening only those doors is an   optimization   that may also be expressed; however, as should be obvious, this defeats the intent of comparing implementations across programming languages.

Let's start with the solution:

Step by Step solution about How to resolve the algorithm 100 doors step by step in the BCPL programming language

Source code in the bcpl programming language

get "libhdr"

let start() be 
$(  let doors = vec 100

    // close all doors
    for n = 1 to 100 do doors!n := 0

    // make 100 passes
    for pass = 1 to 100 do
    $(  let n = pass
        while n <= 100 do
        $(  doors!n := ~doors!n
            n := n + pass
        $)
    $)
    
    // report which doors are open
    for n = 1 to 100 do
        if doors!n then
            writef("Door %N is open.*N", n)
$)

  

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