Problem 54. Maximum running product for a string of numbers

Created by Cody Team

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Given a string s representing a list of numbers, find the five consecutive numbers that multiply to form the largest number. Specifically, given s return the index i to the first of those five numbers. You can assume the maximum product is unique.

Example:

 Input  s = '123454321'
 Output i = 3

since the product of [3 4 5 4 3] is larger than any of the alternatives.

Inspired by Problem 8 from Project Euler

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Last Solution submitted on Dec 04, 2025

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David Young on 31 Jan 2012

It's a pity the test set does not include a case such that the largest running sum is not also the largest running product. Some solutions, including my solution of size 23, should fail because they take the sum, not the product.

Rik on 14 Jan 2021

I would suggest adding '9909911111' as a test case. That would weed out all people who took a shortcut by using a moving sum, instead of a moving product.

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Problem 54. Maximum running product for a string of numbers

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Problem 54. Maximum running product for a string of numbers

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