Abstract
We study the problem of finding a hidden code k in the domain {1, ..., m}n in the presence of an oracle which, for any x in the domain, answers a pair of numbers a(x,k) and b(x,k) such that a(x,k) is the number of components coinciding in x and k and, b(x, k) is the sum of a(x, k) and the number of components occurring in both x and k but, not at the same position. We show that \(\left\lceil {\frac{m}{n}} \right\rceil\)+ 2nlogn + 2n + 2 queries are sufficient to find any hidden code if m ≥ n.
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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Chen, Z., Cunha, C., Homer, S. (1996). Finding a hidden code by asking questions. In: Cai, JY., Wong, C.K. (eds) Computing and Combinatorics. COCOON 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1090. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61332-3_138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61332-3_138
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