Thread Subject:

Trips

I am needing help with a problem. I posted this yesterday, but without my code I had so far.

The problem is this: given a positive integer n, find all unique combination's of 3 positive integers whose product is n. For example, n=24, you have six triplets:
1 1 24
1 2 12
1 3 8
1 4 6
2 2 6
2 3 4
All of these sets of numbers multiply to 24. None of them repeat.

Here is the code I have so far:

n = input('Please enter a positive integer: ');

for i = 1:n
    for j = 1:n
        for k = 1:n
            if i*j*k == n
               disp([i,j,k]);
            end
        end
    end
end

This displays only the combination's whose product is n. I can't seem to figure out how to display only the unique triplets. I have tried using unique( ) but it does some weird stuff to my results. Could anybody give me some help on this?

Thanks!!

Shaun

"Shaun " <shaunvon@iastate.edu> wrote in message <ho0gt2$cv$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> I am needing help with a problem. I posted this yesterday, but without my code I had so far.
>
> The problem is this: given a positive integer n, find all unique combination's of 3 positive integers whose product is n. For example, n=24, you have six triplets:
> 1 1 24
> 1 2 12
> 1 3 8
> 1 4 6
> 2 2 6
> 2 3 4
> All of these sets of numbers multiply to 24. None of them repeat.
>
> Here is the code I have so far:
>
> n = input('Please enter a positive integer: ');
>
> for i = 1:n
> for j = 1:n
> for k = 1:n
> if i*j*k == n
> disp([i,j,k]);
> end
> end
> end
> end
>
> This displays only the combination's whose product is n. I can't seem to figure out how to display only the unique triplets. I have tried using unique( ) but it does some weird stuff to my results. Could anybody give me some help on this?
>
> Thanks!!
>
> Shaun

a hint:
- look at this FEX submission by john d'errico, aka jd...

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/12009

us

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:48:02 -0400, Shaun <shaunvon@iastate.edu> wrote:

> I am needing help with a problem. I posted this yesterday, but without
> my code I had so far. The problem is this: given a positive integer n,
> find all unique combination's of 3 positive integers whose product is
> n. For example, n=24, you have six triplets:
> 1 1 24
> 1 2 12
> 1 3 8
> 1 4 6
> 2 2 6
> 2 3 4
> All of these sets of numbers multiply to 24. None of them repeat.
>
> Here is the code I have so far:
>
> n = input('Please enter a positive integer: ');
>
> for i = 1:n
> for j = 1:n
> for k = 1:n
> if i*j*k == n
> disp([i,j,k]);
> end
> end
> end
> end
>
> This displays only the combination's whose product is n. I can't seem
> to figure out how to display only the unique triplets. I have tried
> using unique( ) but it does some weird stuff to my results. Could
> anybody give me some help on this? Thanks!!
>
> Shaun

If you want to use the code above, dont display the result in the loop.
Store it in an array and then use UNIQUE after you are done with all the
loops.

You might be able to work something cleaner using these functions: FACTOR,
PERMS

"Shaun " <shaunvon@iastate.edu> wrote in message <ho0gt2$cv$1@fred.mathworks.com>...
> I am needing help with a problem. I posted this yesterday, but without my code I had so far.
>
> The problem is this: given a positive integer n, find all unique combination's of 3 positive integers whose product is n. For example, n=24, you have six triplets:
> 1 1 24
> 1 2 12
> 1 3 8
> 1 4 6
> 2 2 6
> 2 3 4
> All of these sets of numbers multiply to 24. None of them repeat.
> .........

  That code of yours is rather brute force I would say. Surely your for-loops can be made a little more sophisticated - something like this:

 for i = 1:n^(1/3)
  m = n/i;
  if round(m) == m
   for j = i:m^(1/2)
    k = m/j;
    if round(k) == k
     (Then i,j,k is your next triple)
     . . . . .

See if you can figure out why the n^(1/3) or i:m^(1/2). See if you can show that i, j, and k must be in ascending order. See if you can demonstrate that no valid triple is missing.

Roger Stafford

Here is one way:

% http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/24133-set-partition
% http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/24185

n = 1000;

p3 = partitions([ones(1,3) factor(n)],3); % FEX above
p3 = cellfun(@(c) cellfun(@prod,c), p3, 'uni', 0);
p3 = sort(cat(1,p3{:}),2);
p3 = unique(p3,'rows')

% Bruno

I should add using either

p3 = partitions([ones(1,3) factor(n)],3);
% OR
p3 = SetPartition([ones(1,3) factor(n)],3);

depending on the FEX file is from MF or BL

Bruno