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Exercise 8

The document describes a logic puzzle involving 1024 light switches numbered 0 to 1023 that are initially all off. It involves flipping switches in steps, where in each step every nth switch is flipped starting from 0, with n increasing from 1 to 1023. The task is to solve which switches will be on or off after all steps without actually simulating all the steps. Instructions are given to implement LightSwitch and SwitchBoard classes to model and solve the puzzle.

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Kyle Zhang
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24 views

Exercise 8

The document describes a logic puzzle involving 1024 light switches numbered 0 to 1023 that are initially all off. It involves flipping switches in steps, where in each step every nth switch is flipped starting from 0, with n increasing from 1 to 1023. The task is to solve which switches will be on or off after all steps without actually simulating all the steps. Instructions are given to implement LightSwitch and SwitchBoard classes to model and solve the puzzle.

Uploaded by

Kyle Zhang
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CSCA08 Exercise 8

Due: November 18, 2016. 5:00pm

Light Switch Problem


This week’s exercise centres around a classic logic puzzle:

A lot of switches
I have a board of light switches, numbered 0,1,2,...,1023.
Each light switch can be either on or off. All switches are initially off.

Step 1:
I flip all of the switches starting at 0.
At this point, all of the light switches are on.

Step 2:
I flip every second switch, starting at 0.
At this point, lights 0,2,4,6,8,... are off.
Lights 1,3,5,7,9,... are still on.

Step 3:
I flip every third switch, starting at 0.
So I flip switches 0,3,6,9,12,...
that is, if a switch is on, I flip it to off.
If a switch is off, I flip it to on.

...

Step 1023:
I flip every 1023’rd switch, starting at 0.
So I flip 0 and 1023.

Question: At this point, which switches are on and which are off?

Solve the Problem


Your first task is to try to solve the puzzle using nothing but your own brain (and possibly a pen & paper).
Can you figure out the pattern? (there’s a way of finding the answer without actually walking through 1023
steps).

No... really... Solve the Problem


I’m sure half of you just jumped straight over the previous section to get to the “real” exercise. But really,
c’mon... give it a try.

1
Building a switch
In a file called ex8.py, build a class LightSwitch with the following properties:

• When I create a switch, I should be able to set it’s default state by inputting a string “on” or “off”.
• I should be able to use a switch’s turn on method to turn it on.
• turn off should work the same way, but in the opposite direction.

• I should also be able to call a flip method to flip its state (if it’s on, it turns off; if it’s off, it turns
on).
• If I print a switch, it should print either I am on or I am off (whichever is currently true).
• If I try to perform an illegal operation on a switch (e.g., turn a switch on when it’s already on), nothing
should happen.

One other thing (hope you read the instructions before you started coding). The switch shouldn’t hold its
state in a string. There’s a better data type that a switch can use to keep track of its state.

Building a switch board


In your ex8.py file, build a class SwitchBoard with the following properties:

• When I create a switchboard, I should be able to set the number of switches it contains.

• All switches should start in the "off" position.


• If I print a switchboard, it should print something along the lines of: "The following switches are
on: 0 2 4 6 8".
• The which switch method should return a list of integers representing the switches that are on, in
order(e.g., [1,3,5,7,9]).

• If I call flip(n) with n as an integer, it should flip the state of the n’th lightswitch.
• If I call flip every(n) with n as an integer, it should flip the state of every n’th lightswitch, starting
at 0. So flip every(2) would flip switches 0, 2, 4, 6, etc.
• The method reset(), should turn all switches off.

• If I ask the switchboard to flip a switch which doesn’t exist, nothing should happen (it shouldn’t crash).

You can add any extra methods you need to make the code work as described above.

Now check your solution

Now, write a piece of global code that solves the problem as stated above. Your code should not run when
the automarker imports your file. Did you get it right? Can you see the pattern now? Do you understand
why this pattern exists?

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