RE: odd sort of bit-counter...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mi400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx / David Morris
> Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 12:03 PM
>
> Here is another non-MI answer. The problem you are trying to solve is
> NP complete. That means someone has already come up with solutions that
> will fit this problem. One way to find a possible solution quickly would
> be a genetic algorithm. The thing you will need to determine if you use
> a genetic algorithm is what constitutes the solution(s); it sounds like
> you may want all possible solutions. There are a few Java solutions that
> run on the iSeries but I have only used JGAP, which is available at
> SourceForge.

I envision that I would have a monitor thingy set up so I could inquire
where the search process was (i.e., is it now up to testing 7-amount
combinations?), and decide whether to cancel the process.  In a list of
hundreds of amounts, it would be impractical to test every possible
combination, but I've already detailed my idea on testing all of the
2-amount combos, then 3-amount combos, etc.  This is where I think the
algorithm would find solutions, if they exist, in the shortest amount of
time possible.  If the search gets to the point where it is searching for
7-amount combos, perhaps that should set a trigger in my mind that there's a
more complex problem than missing amounts.

db