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

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arithmetic puzzle strings

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