Let us examine the following program, where x, y and n are integer variables.
Step 1. Let y:=1.
Step 2. If n>0 go to step 3, otherwise end.
Step 3. If n is an odd number, let y:=y*x and n:=n-1.
Step 4. Let x:=x*x and n:=n/2.
Step 5. Go to step 2.
This i have written in C as follows:
int y, x, n, c;
int main()
{
y = 1;
printf("Enter n: ");
scanf("%d", &n);
printf("Enter x: ");
scanf("%d", &x);
while(n>0)
{
/* c is a counter for the # of multiplication ops */
if(n%2>0) y*=x, ++c, --n;
x*=x, ++c, n/=2;
}
printf("\ny = %d, x = %d, c = %d", y, x, c);
return 0;
}
I'm not very skilled at C, yet. I'm just starting. With this code i get the following answers to these questiosn, i made the program to corroborate the answers i deduced myself.
a) When the program has finished executing, what values do the variables x, y and n have, if the initial value of variable n is 5 and variable x is 3?
y = 243, x = 6561, c = 5
b) How many multiplication operations are performed in the program, if the initial value of variable n is 250 and variable x is 2?
y = 0, x = 0, c = 14
this is obviously wrong, but i can't figure out why i'm getting this.
I didn't calculate the value of y, but i did count the same number of multiplication operations (14).
c) The initial value of variable x is 4. What should the initial value of variable n be, if the value of variable y is 256 when the program has finished executing?
n, i believe, should be 4. If i feed the program that info it gives me this:
y = 256, x = 65536, c = 4
d) The initial value of variable n is 3. What should the initial value of variable x be, if the value of variable y is 216 when the program has finished executing?
I believe x should be 6. If i feed the program that info it gives me this:
y = 216, x = 1296, c = 4
e) Present the value of variable y when the program has finished executing, as a function of the initial values of the variables x and n.
This and question b are the ones i haven't been able to answer. And are the reason i'm making this post.
Oh, by the way, this is not homework, i'm doing this mostly as a brainteaser. I got the problems from this URL:
http://www.joensuu.fi/tkt/teh_eng.htm
adios,
biterman.