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1995 East-Central Regionals
ACM International Collegiate programming Contest
sponsored by Microsoft
Problem G - Molecules
In this abstraction from a molecular engineering problem associated with developing a synthetic fuel, we
are given four, equal-length, molecular chains that are to form a super molecule.
In the simplified two-dimensional model used here, the super molecule is formed as an interlocking rectangular arrangement of
the four given molecular chain strands. The interlocking feature is the sharing of a common molecule
between pairs of chains.
To illustrate, suppose we have the four, length-twelve, molecular chains:
O I M D I H E I A F N L
C H J D B J M H P J K D
L C B J O J G I E K B O
K A I N L H L O L B E J
These can be placed in the interlocking arrangements:
O L
I C
M B
C H J D B J M H P J K D
I O
H J
E G
I I
A E
F K
K A I N L H L O L B E J
L O
-OR-
O C
I H
M J
D D
L C B J O J G I E K B O
H J
E M
K A I N L H L O L B E J
A P
F J
N K
L D
In this problem, we have some constraints on the arrangements being sought:
- Any of the four chains can be placed in any of the super molecule's four, general, horizontal or
vertical slots, as in the illustrations above.
- If a chain is placed in one of the two horizontal slots, it must keep the same left-to-right orientation
it had in the original chain listing. That is, it can't be flipped end-for-end.
- If a chain is placed in one of the two vertical slots, its left-to-right orientation in the original chain
listing must match its top-to-bottom orientation in the slot. It can't be flipped end-for-end from
this orientation.
- The enclosed rectangular region at the center of the super molecule must have as large an area as
possible, and the area cannot be zero. (The large-area constraint arises from a fuel-volatility criterion
for the arrangement. The non-zero area constraint arises because neither the vertically nor the
horizontally oriented chains can lie immediately next to each other without producing side-effects
we're not considering.)
The area is measured as the count of vacant character positions within the enclosed rectangle of the
super molecule. The area counts of the two super molecules illustrated above are thirty (30) and
four (4).
- The fore and aft tails of each chain extending beyond the super molecule's central interlocked
rectangle must have a minimum length of one chain element. That is, none of the four original chains
can have either its first or its last element as part of the interlocking-rectangle boundary.
Input
The input consists of a series of data sets. Each data set consists of four molecular chains of 12 fixed
elements each. These 12 elements are given as contiguous capital letters. The molecule designators within
the chains will be restricted to the sixteen letters, A...P. The first letter of a chain will appear as the first
character on an input line.
The first molecule designator within the first chain of a data set will be the letter "Q" to indicate the end of
data.
Output
A line with a single integer is to be emitted for each input data set encountered. This integer is the maximum
area enclosed by any legitimate arrangement of the four chains.
Use the output value zero (0) to indicate that no legitimate super molecule could be formed for a given data
set.
The first digit of an output value should be the first character on a line. Note: This may not be a
default-format.
Sample Input
CDBADCBBEFEF
DACCBADAFEAB
EFBDCAADBDCD
ABCDABCDABCD
DACCBADAFEAB
EFBDCAADBDCD
ABCDABCDABCD
CDBADCBBEFEF
ABABABABABAB
CDCDCDCDCDCD
EEEEEEEEEEEE
FFFFFFFFFFFF
ABAAAAAAAABA
CBCCCCCCCCBC
DBDDDDDDDDBD
EBEEEEEEEEBE
ABBBBBBBBBBA
ACCCCCCCCCCA
ADDDDDDDDDDA
AEEEEEEEEEEA
BBBABBBABBBB
CCACCCACCCCC
DDDDADDADDDD
EEAEEAEEEEEE
Q
Output for the Sample Input
48
48
0
64
0
6
This page maintained by
Ed Karrels.
Last updated November 6, 1997