ICPC TEAM SELECTION TEST

ISI BANGLORE 2024–2025

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
1. Naming convention for your programs: BG-xx-zzyy-progz.py (assuming
BSD-xx-24yy denotes your roll number, where xx denotes CC/DH/BG, and progz
denotes the program name, where z denotes 1/2).
2. To submit the solution files (.py only), ensure that they are not password protected
and upload them (within the stipulated time) through the link: https://forms.
gle/SfDtnySrWCEdw84m8.

NOTE: The programs are to be written in C++, Python or Java language. Programs are required to be made
in a way that they take the required inputs from standard input file and print the desired outputs to standard
output file, until otherwise stated.

Q1. Consider a tile game, say MERGER, in which an n × n square grid is given with titles having
numbers labeled (not necessarily) on them. The labeled numbers are mandatorily in the form
of 2k (k = 1, . . . , 16). The tiles on the grid can be pairwise merged. The allowed merging
actions that can be applied on a pair of tiles are upward, downward, leftward and rightward
movement of the tiles. The said actions force the labeled tiles to move toward one of the
sides (as applicable) following the same order in which they appeared earlier. However, when
a pair of tiles labeled with the same number touch (being neighbors), they merge into one
with the added value labeled on the tile in the respective direction leaving the other one
unlabeled. Merging of tiles can be done only in the direction the merging action has taken
place. An instance of such actions is shown in Fig. 1. The purpose of this game is to obtain
the maximum possible number on a tile by applying merging actions.

2 8 8 16 32
8 4 4
→ →
2 4
4 16

Figure 1: The effect of an upward action followed by a rightward action that cause an upward
movement of all the tiles and then rightward movement of all the tiles. (Upward) In the first
column, when the pair of tiles labeled with 2 touch, they merge into one with 4 labeled on it.
This further gets merged with the tile labeled with 4, finally merged into one with 8 labeled on it.
(Rightward) In the first row, when the pair of tiles labeled with 8 touch, they merge into one
with 16 labeled on it. This further gets merged with the tile labeled with 16, finally merged into
one with 32 labeled on it.

Write a program to take a dimension of the grid and the initial set of labeled tiles and calculate
the maximum possible value that one can get on any arbitrary tile after any arbitrary sequence

1
of merging actions. Note that there can be multiple possible sequence of actions behind the
maximum value obtained. [3 marks]
Input Format
The first line of input (to be taken from the user) is the integer n denoting the dimension of
the grid. This will be followed by the numbers on the tiles maintaining a row major traversal.
A value ‘0’ is taken to reflect the empty tiles (with no number on them).
Output Format
The output shows the sequence of actions (as applicable) taken followed by the maximum
possible resultant value on a tile in successive lines. If there are multiple possible sets of
actions that might lead to the maximum value, then printing any one of those set of actions
will suffice.
Sample Input 1:

3
-1 0 0
0 2 0
16 0 8

Sample Output 1:

INVALID

Sample Input 2:

4
12 0 0 0
0 2 0 0
2 0 0 0
4 8 0 32

Sample Output 2:

INVALID

Sample Input 3:

2
16 16
16 16

Sample Output 3:

Downward
Leftward
64

2
 Sample Input 4:

4
2 0 0 0
0 2 0 0
2 4 0 0
4 0 0 8

Sample Output 4:

upward
8

Sample Input 5:

4
2 0 0 0
0 8 0 0
2 4 0 0
4 0 0 16

Sample Output 5:

upward
rightward
32

Q2. Let there be a square-shaped paper around the corners of which a string is written. The
sequence of characters in the string starts gradually from the top-left corner, then moving
toward top-right, then moving toward bottom-right, then moving toward bottom-left, then
finally reaching to top-left. The characters are clockwise distributed into four equal segments
around the four sides, with the corners sharing common characters (except the top-left) and
whatever shortfall occurring in the last segment denoted with spaces toward the end. For
example, the string “malayalam rocks’ appears as follows.

malay
a
s l
k a
cor m

Given such a string written on the paper, write a program to check whether it is a palindrome
or not. Note that every character (including space or special characters) is considered while
checking the palindrome property. [2 marks]
Input Format
The input (to be taken from the user) is a string given in the special clockwise orientation as
stated in the problem.

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Output Format
The output prints whether the input string given in the special clockwise orientation is a
palindrome or not.
Sample Input 1:

malayalam

Sample Output 1:

INVALID

Sample Input 2:

Sample Output 2:

Palindrome

Sample Input 3:

malay
a
s l
k a
cor m

Sample Output 3:

Not Palindrome

Sample Input 4:

pal
p x
alx

Sample Output 4:

Palindrome

Sample Input 5:

4
xyl
x
xyl

Sample Output 5:

Palindrome
Declaration:
We are delighted to inform you that final team of ICPC has been decided. Soham Gupta (1st
year) secured 4.9 marks in about 1 hour 2 mins, Arya Deshmukh (3rd year) secured 3.9 marks
in about 1 hour 45 mins, Vinayak Kamra (3rd year) secured 3.8 marks in about 1 hour 29
mins. These three students will be representing ISI Banglore in upcoming ICPC regional
contest and further. Congratulations to them and all the participating members.