Results for
The challenge:
You are given a string of lowercase letters 'a' to 'z'.
Each character represents a base-26 digit:
- 'a' = 0
1. Understand the Base-26 Conversion Process:
Let the input be s = 'aloha'.
Convert each character to a digit:
digits = double(s) - double('a');
This works because:
double('a') = 97
double('b') = 98
So:
double('a') - 97 = 0
double('l') - 97 = 11
double('o') - 97 = 14
double('h') - 97 = 7
double('a') - 97 = 0
Now you have:
[0 11 14 7 0]
2. Interpret as Base-26:
For a number with n digits:
d1 d2 d3 ... dn
Value = d1*26^(n-1) + d2*26^(n-2) + ... + dn*26^0
So for 'aloha' (5 chars):
0*26^4 + 11*26^3 + 14*26^2 + 7*26^1 + 0*26^0
MATLAB can compute this automatically.
3. Avoid loops — Use MATLAB vectorization:
You can compute the weighted sum using dot
digits = double(s) - 'a';
powers = 26.^(length(s)-1:-1:0);
result = dot(digits, powers);
This is clean, short, and vectorized.
4.Test with the examples:
char2num26('funfunfun')
→ 1208856210289
char2num26('matlab')
→ 142917893
char2num26('nasa')
→ 228956
To track the current leader after each match, you can use cumulative scores. First, calculate the cumulative sum for each player across the matches. Then, after eaayer with the highest score.
Hint: Use cumsum(S, 1) to get cumulative scores along the rows (matches). Loop through each row to keep track of the leader. If multiple players tie, pick the lowest index.
Example:
If S = [5 3 4; 2 6 2; 3 5 7], after match 3, the cumulative scores are [10 14 13]. Player 2 leads with 14 hilbs.
This method keeps your code clean and avoids repeatedly summing rows.
Congratulations to all the Cool Coders who have completed the problem set. I hope you weren't too cool to enjoy the silliness I put into the problems.
If you've solved the whole problem set, don't forget to help out your teammates with suggestions, tips, tricks, etc. But also, just for fun, I'm curious to see which of my many in-jokes and nerdy references you noticed. Many of the problems were inspired by things in the real world, then ported over into the chaotic fantasy world of Nedland.
I guess I'll start with the obvious real-world reference: @Ned Gulley (I make no comment about his role as insane despot in any universe, real or otherwise.)
Extracting the digits of a number will be useful to solve many Cody problems.
Instead of iteratively dividing by 10 and taking the remainder, the digits of a number can be easily extracted using String operations.
%Extract the digits of N
N = 1234;
d = num2str(N)-'0';
d =
1 2 3 4
Instead of looping with if-statements, use logical indexing:
A(A < 0) = 0;
One line, no loops, full clarity.
Whenever a problem repeats in cycles (like indexing or angles), mod() keeps your logic clean:
idx = mod(i-1, n) + 1;
No if-else chaos!
The toughest problem in the Cody Contest 2025 is Clueless - Lord Ned in the Game Room. Thank you Matt Tearle for such as wonderful problem. We can approach this clueless(!) tough problem systematically.
Initialize knowledge Matrix
Based on the hints provided in the problem description, we can initialize a knowledge matrix of size n*3 by m+1. The rows of the knowledge matrix represent the different cards and the columns represent the players. In the knowledge matrix, the first n rows represent category 1 cards, the next n rows, category 2 and the next category 3. We can initialize this matrix with zeros. On the go, once we know that a player holds the card, we can make that entry as 1 and if a player doesn't have the card, we can make that entry as -1.
yourcards processing
These are cards received by us.
- In the knowledge matrix, mark the entries as 1 for the cards received. These entries will be the some elements along the column pnum of the knowledge matrix.
- Mark all other entries along the column pnum as -1, as we don't receive other cards.
- Mark all other entries along the rows corresponding to the received cards as -1, as other players cannot receive the cards that are with us.
commoncards processing
These are the common cards kept open.
- In the knowledge matrix, mark the entries as 1 for the common cards. These entries will be some elements along the column (m+1) of the knowledge matrix.
- Mark all other entries along the column (m+1) as -1, as other cards are not common.
- Mark all other entries along the rows corresponding to the common cards as -1, as other players cannot receive the cards that are common.
Result -1 processing
In the turns input matrix, the result (5th column) value -1 means, the corresponding player doesn't have the 3 cards asked.
- Find all the rows with result as -1.
- For those corresponding players (1st element in each row of turns matrix), mark -1 entries in the knowledge matrix for those 3 absent cards.
pnum turns processing
These are our turns, so we get definite answers for the asked cards. Make sure to traverse only the rows corresponding to our turn.
- The results with -1 are already processed in the previous step.
- The results other than -1 means, that particular card is present with the asked player. So mark the entry as 1 for the corresponding player in the knowledge matrix.
- Mark all other entries along the row corresponding to step 2 as -1, as other players cannot receive this card.
Result 0 processing
So far, in the yourcards processing, commoncards processing, result -1 processing and pnum turns processing, we had very straightforward definite knowledge about the presence/absence of the card with a player. This step onwards, the tricky part of the problem begins.
result 0 means, any one (or more) of the asked cards are present with the asked player. We don't know exactly which card.
- For the asked player, if we have a definite no answer (-1 value in the knowledge matrix) for any two of the three asked cards, then we are sure about the card that is present with the player.
- Mark the entry as 1 for the definitely known card for the corresponding player in the knowledge matrix.
- Mark all other entries along the row corresponding to step 2 as -1, as other players cannot receive this card.
Cards per Player processing
Based on the number of cards present in the yourcards, we know the ncards, the number of cards per player.
Check along each column of the knowledge matrix, that is for each player.
- If the number of ones (definitely present cards) is equal to ncards, we can make all other entries along the column as -1, as this player cannot have any other card.
- If the sum of number of ones (definitely present cards) and the number of zeros (unknown cards) is equal to ncards, we can (i) mark the zero entries as one, as the unknown cards have become definitely present cards, (ii) mark all other entries along the column as -1, as other players cannot have any other card.
Category-wise cards checking
For each category, we must get a definite card to be present in the envelope.
- In each category (For every group of n rows of knowledge matrix), check for a row with all -1s. That is a card which is definitely not present with any of the players. Then this card will surely be present in the envelope. Add it to the output.
- If we could not find an all -1 row, then in that category, check each row for a 1 to be present. Note down the rows which doesn't have a 1. Those cards' players are still unknown. If we have only one such row (unknown card), then it must be in the envelope, as from each category one card is present in the envelope. Add it to the output.
- For the card identified in Step 2, mark all the entries along that row in the knowledge matrix as -1, as this card doesn't belong to any player.
Looping Over
In our so far steps, we could note that, the knowledge matrix got updated even after "Result 0 processing" step. This updation in the knowledge matrix may help the "Result 0 processing" step, if we perform it again. So, we can loop over the steps, "Result 0 processing", "Cards per Player processing" and "Category-wise cards checking" again. This ensures that, we will get the desired number of envelop cards (three in our case) as output.
Instead of growing arrays inside a loop, preallocate with zeros(), ones(), or nan(). It avoids memory fragmentation and speeds up Cody solutions.
A = zeros(1,1000);
Cody often hides subtle hints in example outputs — like data shape, rounding, or format. Matching those exactly saves you a lot of debugging time.
isequal() is your best friend for Cody! It compares arrays perfectly without rounding errors — much safer than == for matrix outputs.
When Cody hides test cases, test your function with random small inputs first. If it works for many edge cases, it will almost always pass the grader.
I realized that using vectorized logic instead of nested loops makes Cody problems run much faster and cleaner. Functions like any(), all(), and logical indexing can replace multiple for-loops easily !
Hi cool guys,
I hope you are coding so cool!
FYI, in Problem 61065. Convert Hexavigesimal to Decimal in Cody Contest 2025 there's a small issue with the text:
[ ... For example, the text ‘aloha’ would correspond to a vector of values [0 11 14 7 0], thus representing the base-26 value 202982 = 11*263 + 14*262 + 7*26 ...]
The bold section should be:
202982 = 11*26^3 + 14*26^2 + 7*26
Hey Cool Coders! 😎
Let’s get to know each other. Drop a quick intro below and meet your teammates! This is your chance to meet teammates, find coding buddies, and build connections that make the contest more fun and rewarding!
You can share:
- Your name or nickname
- Where you’re from
- Your favorite coding topic or language
- What you’re most excited about in the contest
Let’s make Team Cool Coders an awesome community—jump in and say hi! 🚀
Welcome to the Cody Contest 2025 and the Cool Coders team channel! 🎉
You stay calm under pressure. No panic, no chaos—just smooth problem-solving. This is your space to connect with like-minded coders, share insights, and help your team win. To make sure everyone has a great experience, please keep these tips in mind:
- Follow the Community Guidelines: Take a moment to review our community standards. Posts that don’t follow these guidelines may be flagged by moderators or community members.
- Ask Questions About Cody Problems: When asking for help, show your work! Include your code, error messages, and any details needed to reproduce your results. This helps others provide useful, targeted answers.
- Share Tips & Tricks: Knowledge sharing is key to success. When posting tips or solutions, explain how and why your approach works so others can learn your problem-solving methods.
- Provide Feedback: We value your feedback! Use this channel to report issues or share creative ideas to make the contest even better.
Have fun and enjoy the challenge! We hope you’ll learn new MATLAB skills, make great connections, and win amazing prizes! 🚀
Hi everyone,
Please check out our new book "Generative AI for Trading and Asset Management".
GenAI is usually associated with large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, or with image generation tools like MidJourney, essentially, machines that can learn from text or images and generate text or images. But in reality, these models can learn from many different types of data. In particular, they can learn from time series of asset returns, which is perhaps the most relevant for asset managers.
In our book (amazon.com link), we explore both the practical applications and the fundamental principles of GenAI, with a special focus on how these technologies apply to trading and asset management.
The book is divided into two broad parts:
Part 1 is written by Ernie Chan, noted author of Quantitative Trading, Algorithmic Trading, and Machine Trading. It starts with no-code applications of GenAI for traders and asset managers with little or no coding experience. After that, it takes readers on a whirlwind tour of machine learning techniques commonly used in finance.
Part 2, written by Hamlet, covers the fundamentals and technical details of GenAI, from modeling to efficient inference. This part is for those who want to understand the inner workings of these models and how to adapt them to their own custom data and applications. It’s for anyone who wants to go beyond the high-level use cases, get their hands dirty, and apply, and eventually improve these models in real-world practical applications.
Readers can start with whichever part they want to explore and learn from.
I am deeply honored to announce the official publication of my latest academic volume:
MATLAB for Civil Engineers: From Basics to Advanced Applications
(Springer Nature, 2025).
This work serves as a comprehensive bridge between theoretical civil engineering principles and their practical implementation through MATLAB—a platform essential to the future of computational design, simulation, and optimization in our field.
Structured to serve both academic audiences and practicing engineers, this book progresses from foundational MATLAB programming concepts to highly specialized applications in structural analysis, geotechnical engineering, hydraulic modeling, and finite element methods. Whether you are a student building analytical fluency or a professional seeking computational precision, this volume offers an indispensable resource for mastering MATLAB's full potential in civil engineering contexts.
With rigorously structured examples, case studies, and research-aligned methods, MATLAB for Civil Engineers reflects the convergence of engineering logic with algorithmic innovation—equipping readers to address contemporary challenges with clarity, accuracy, and foresight.
📖 Ideal for:
— Graduate and postgraduate civil engineering students
— University instructors and lecturers seeking a structured teaching companion
— Professionals aiming to integrate MATLAB into complex real-world projects
If you are passionate about engineering resilience, data-informed design, or computational modeling, I invite you to explore the work and share it with your network.
🧠 Let us advance the discipline together through precision, programming, and purpose.
I am pleased to announce the 6th Edition of my book MATLAB Recipes for Earth Sciences with Springer Nature
also in the MathWorks Book Program
It is now almost exactly 20 years since I signed the contract with Springer for the first edition of the book. Since then, the book has grown from 237 to 576 pages, with many new chapters added. I would like to thank my colleagues Norbert Marwan and Robin Gebbers, who have each contributed two sections to Chapters 5, 7 and 9.
And of course, my thanks go to the excellent team at the MathWorks Book Program and the numerous other MathWorks experts who have helped and advised me during the last 30+ years working with MATLAB. And of course, thank you Springer for 20 years of support.
This book introduces methods of data analysis in the earth sciences using MATLAB, such as basic statistics for univariate, bivariate, and multivariate data sets, time series analysis, signal processing, spatial and directional data analysis, and image analysis.
Martin H. Trauth
I am glad to inform and share with you all my new text book titled "Inverters and AC Drives
Control, Modeling, and Simulation Using Simulink", Springer, 2024. This text book has nine chapters and three appendices. A separate "Instructor Manual" is rpovided with solutions to selected model projects. The salent features of this book are given below:
- Provides Simulink models for various PWM techniques used for inverters
- Presents vector and direct torque control of inverter-fed AC drives and fuzzy logic control of converter-fed AC drives
- Includes examples, case studies, source codes of models, and model projects from all the chapters
The Springer link for this text book is given below:
This book is also in the Mathworks book program:
Los invito a conocer el libro "Sistemas dinámicos en contexto: Modelación matemática, simulación, estimación y control con MATLAB", el cual ya está disponible en formato digital.
El libro integra diversos temas de los sistemas dinámicos desde un punto de vista práctico utilizando programas de MATLAB y simulaciones en Simulink y utilizando métodos numéricos (ver enlace). Existe mucho material en el blog del libro con posibilidades para comentarios, propuestas y correcciones. Resalto los casos de estudio
Creo que el libro les puede dar un buen panorama del área con la posibilidad de experimentar de manera interactiva con todo el material de MATLAB disponible en formato Live Script. Lo mejor es que se pueden formular preguntas en el blog y hacer propuestas al autor de ejercicios resueltos.
Son bienvenidos los comentarios, sugerencias y correcciones al texto.
