score = k1*result + k2*e(k3*runtime) + k4*max(complexity-10,0) + k5*nodes

Where:

k1 = 0.01
k2 = 0.001
k3 = 1/12 (0.08333…)
k4 = 1
k5 = 0.001

The current leading entry has a time of 89s, result of 663581, cyc of 9, and nodes of 1961. Here’s a breakdown of the current tradoffs:

-cyc and score are a 1:1 ratio (i.e. each point shaved off cyc is a point shaved off the score)
-time and score are a 1:0.2 ratio
-result and score are a 1:0.01 ratio
-node and score are a 1:0.001 ratio

As is common at this point in the contest, Nick Howe’s entries have already settled in just below the ‘knee’ of the time exponential curve, which is rather flat until about ~110s. However, because of results are so high right now and change quite a bit with small tweaks, I think we are going to find more payoff in trying to reduce the results by searching the boards for a bit longer, at least until the times get up around the 120s range. Unfortunately that also means that during the various contest end times the queue is going to get very backlogged, since each entry will take several minutes to execute.

Sorry about that. I wrote the contest code in absolute indexing, and then changed it to match the rules. I pushed the absolute indexing version accidentally. My bad.

We just modified the rules to match the contest suite as it is on the File Exchange. Looks like some of the early entries figured it out and are doing well. Use ind2sub to convert to row column if you happen to need it.

sorry,
Doug

while in the distributed functions it is:
colors = solver(A,targetRowAndColumn)
This also fits the ‘testsuite_sample.mat’ is built.

What is the correct one (should we use a linear index of the target or subscripts)?

Thank you

Some of the intermediate challenges are predictable, but some of them are improvised. We’ll probably continue the tradition of a Sunday Push (best aggregate improvement over 24 hours by one player) and a Tuesday Leap (best single improvement over 24 hours). There will certainly be one or two others, but it’s hard to say exactly what or when.

Tell us your suggestions for a good creative intermediate prize.

The code will be uploaded when the contest starts at noon (Boston time) on November 4th.

Helen

It’s also a good learning experience for me. I learned how to manipulate text files using cell. By applying this new technique to my work I bet I can increase the efficiency of my company’s product by 50%, at least.

Cris: Good observation. The key is that I do not consider the correlation of the the programs, but the correlation of the *signature* of the programs. If the signature does not extract enough features from the programs, the self-correlation will be low. The signature that I used appears to be sufficient for a majority of the given test subjects, and I did not intend to make it too complicated.

I think it is weird, though, that an entry wins that computes correlation this way. Correlation of one program with itself should always be very high, I’d expect. It’s funny to see some very low values along the diagonal of the correlation matrices.

The optimization contests were getting a little long in the tooth, especially with the same people competing (and winning) every time. Let’s do this visualization one again!

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/23595
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/23596

They are actually both the same, I just messed up in zipping the file up on the first one and accidentally included the .asv instead of the .m file, so I corrected it. If you want to delete the first one so as to note ‘clutter up’ the FEX that’s fine by me.

I assume that entries which were submitted before noon, but not actually reviewed and approved for public posting before noon will still be allowed into the rankings?

Not sure if it’s related, but it also wouldn’t let me upload any images on the file submission page. I tried all the suggested formats.

With respect to the video size, I think the “‘compression’, ‘None’” is what is inflating the size so much. You might experiment with a combination of available “Compression” codecs and “Quality” to get acceptable results with reasonable file size.

1. I just submitted an entry, and was surprised to NOT see it immediately appear online. Instead I got a message saying it needed to be reviewed and would take up to 5 days to appear?!?!?! I don’t even have any type of link or reference to the upload listed in my profile, so for all I know it will disappear into the ether. Who is doing the reviewing? Obviously this could significantly impact the ability of entries to get seen by others if they aren’t made public in a short amount of time.

2. My entry happens to include a video (shameless plug.. go see it please.. it’s cool;). I figured out a way to make MATLAB create an AVI file and then display it as part of the published HTML. For this first submission, I deliberately kept the animation small and short, but the zip file is still over 2.5MB and uncompresses to over 150MB. Do we really need to include ‘all the published’ files? Downloading the .m file and running / publishing it produces the same results without taking up so much bandwidth.

for i = 1:length(d)
    if i < = 373
        d(i).darkness = 1;
        d(i).twilight = 0;
        d(i).daylight = 0;
    elseif i <= 980
        d(i).darkness = 0;
        d(i).twilight = 1;
        d(i).daylight = 0;
    else
        d(i).darkness = 0;
        d(i).twilight = 0;
        d(i).daylight = 1;
    end
end