top | item 38496347

Advent of Code 2023 Day 2: Cube Conundrum

26 points| susanthenerd | 2 years ago |adventofcode.com

8 comments

order

vacuity|2 years ago

I think the description of the cube game is ambiguous, and I initially misunderstood it. I'll start off by saying, no shade to the AoC people, and I greatly appreciate and respect their efforts. Just pointing it out.

The intended meaning is that in each game, a set of red, green, and blue cubes is taken out of the bag, replaced, another set is taken out, and so on until the game ends. I think the example can be understood in the meaning that all sets listed for the game are taken out and replaced as a group. That is, these are mutually exclusive subsets of the bag's contents. The example only shows games that are strictly valid or invalid for both interpretations. It didn't show a game that had individually valid sets but a sum of some color that exceeded the maximum. For example,

Game N: 4 red, 5 blue, 4 green; 3 green, 2 blue, 7 red; 2 blue, 8 red

would require at least 19 red cubes by my initially understood meaning, and only 8 red cubes by the intended meaning. The misunderstanding can be disproved from the part 2 description, but I was on part 1 at the time. The phrasing of the rationale for invalidating games 3 and 4 in the example perhaps leans towards the intended meaning, but subtly.

remram|2 years ago

> the Elf will reach into the bag, grab a handful of random cubes, show them to you, and then put them back in the bag. He'll do this a few times per game.

That was actually really clear to me. It clearly says the whole thing happens multiple time per game, where the thing includes "put them back in the bag". There are also examples.

yetanother12345|2 years ago

Why, oh why? A choice between four American multinationals is no choice at all, IMHO

    To play, please identify yourself via one of these services:
    [GitHub] [Google] [Twitter] [Reddit]

TwentyPosts|2 years ago

It's laughably easy to grab a temporary e-mail and set up a throwaway account in just a few minutes. I did it for Twitter just a few weeks ago, even.

Surely someone on HN is capable of gritting their teeth here, and understands that Eric doesn't want to have to set-up a whole account and e-mail verification system.

Fiahil|2 years ago

> You're launched high into the atmosphere! The apex of your trajectory just barely reaches the surface of a large island floating in the sky.

I got some serious Zelda: Tear of the Kingdom vibe reading this !

pockybum522|2 years ago

The flavor text is always great. I loved yesterday's "the sky. Where did you think snow comes from?"