Problem 46040. Solve a Weird Calculator puzzle

The September 2012 issue of GAMES Magazine had a Weird Calculator puzzle by Erich Friedman. In this puzzle, the calculator has only four buttons: +13, -7, ×2, and /3. The object is to add 1 to get from one number to another with the specified number of button presses. For example, if you were asked to get from 8 to 9 in two button presses, you could press ×2 and -7.
Write a function to solve the Weird Calculator puzzle. The input will be the starting number a, the desired result b, and the number n of button presses. The output should be a string with the buttons separated by a comma and a space. For the example above, the output should be
*2, -7
Enjoy!
Solve

Solution Stats

30.95% Correct | 69.05% Incorrect
Last Solution submitted on Aug 27, 2024

Solution Comments

Show comments

Problem Recent Solvers12

Suggested Problems

More from this Author306

Problem Tags

arithmetic puzzle strings

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!