Find all integers between m and n whose sum of squared divisors is itself a square
Brute-force calculatioins of factors
You begin by calculating:
m, n = 40, 42
r = (m..n).to_a.map { |z| (1..z).select { |x| z % x == 0} }
#=> [[1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40], [1, 41], [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42]]
That's OK, but you don't need .to_a:
r = (m..n).map { |z| (1..z).select { |x| z % x == 0} }
#=> [[1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40], [1, 41], [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42]]
This avoids an extra step, which is the creation of the temporary array1,2:
(m..n).to_a #=> [40, 41, 42]
Structure of a solution
Let's work backwards to come up with our code. First, concentrate on determining, for any given number q, if the sum of squares of the factors of q is itself a perfect square. Suppose we construct a method magic_number? which takes q as its only argument and returns true if q satisfies the required property and false otherwise. Then we will compute:
(m..n).select { |q| magic_number?(q) }
to return an array of all numbers between m and n that satisfy the property. magic_number? can be written like this:
def magic_number?(q)
return true if q == 1
s = sum_of_squared_factors(q)
s == Math.sqrt(s).round**2
end
Calculating sum of squared factors
So now we are left with writing the method sum_of_squared_factors. We can use your code to obtain the factors:
def factors(q)
(1..q).select { |x| q % x == 0 }
end
factors(40) #=> [1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40]
factors(41) #=> [1, 41]
factors(42) #=> [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21, 42]
and then write:
def sum_of_squared_factors(q)
factors(q).reduce(0) { |t,i| t + i*i }
end
sum_of_squared_factors(40) #=> 2210
sum_of_squared_factors(41) #=> 1682
sum_of_squared_factors(42) #=> 2500
Speeding the calculation of factors
There's something more we can do to speed up the calculation of factors. If f is a factor of n, f and n/f, are both factors of n. (For example, since 3 is a factor of 42, so is 42/3 #=> 14). We therefore need only obtain the smaller of each pair.
There is one exception to this rule. If n is a perfect square and f == n**0.5, then f = n/f, so we only include f among the factors of n (not n/f as well).
If turns out that if f is the smaller of the pair, f <=(n**0.5).round3. We therefore need only check to see which of the numbers (1..(n**0.5).round) are factors and include their complements (unless n is a perfect square, in which case we do not double-count (n**0.5).round):
q = 42
arr = (1..Math.sqrt(q).round).select { |x| q % x == 0 }
#=> [1, 2, 3, 6]
arr = arr.flat_map { |n| [n, q/n] }
#=> [1, 42, 2, 21, 3, 14, 6, 7]
arr.pop if a[-2] == a[-1]
arr
#=> [1, 42, 2, 21, 3, 14, 6, 7]
q = 36
arr = (1..Math.sqrt(q).round).select { |x| q % x == 0 }
#=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 6]
arr = arr.flat_map { |n| [n, q/n] }
#=> [1, 36, 2, 18, 3, 12, 4, 9, 6, 6]
arr.pop if a[-2] == a[-1]
#=> 6
arr
#=> [1, 36, 2, 18, 3, 12, 4, 9, 6]
so we can write:
def factors(q)
arr = (1..Math.sqrt(q)).select { |x| q % x == 0 }
arr = arr.flat_map { |n| [n, q/n] }
arr.pop if arr[-2] == arr[-1]
arr
end
Substituting out arr ("chaining" expressions), we obtain a typical Ruby expression:
def factors(q)
(1..Math.sqrt(q)).select { |x| q % x == 0 }.
flat_map { |n| [n, q/n] }.
tap { |a| a.pop if a[-2] == a[-1] }
end
factors(42)
#=> [1, 42, 2, 21, 3, 14, 6, 7]
factors(36)
#=> [1, 36, 2, 18, 3, 12, 4, 9, 6]
See Enumerable#flat_map and Object#tap. (There's no need for this array to be sorted. In applications where it needs to be sorted, just tack .sort onto the end of flat_maps block.)
Wrapping up
In sum, we are left with the following:
def magic_number?(q)
return true if q == 1
s = sum_of_squared_factors(q)
s == Math.sqrt(s).round**2
end
def sum_of_squared_factors(q)
factors(q).reduce(0) { |t,i| t + i*i }
end
def factors(q)
(1..Math.sqrt(q)).select { |x| q % x == 0 }.
flat_map { |n| [n, q/n] }.
tap { |a| a.pop if a[-2] == a[-1] }
end
m, n = 1, 1000
(m..n).select { |q| magic_number?(q) }
#=> `[1, 42, 246, 287, 728]
This calculation was completed in a blink of an eye.
Compute primes to further speed calculation of factors
Lastly, let me describe an even faster way to compute the factors of a number, using the method Prime::prime_division. That method decomposes any number into its prime components. Consider, for example, n = 360.
require 'prime'
Prime.prime_division(360)
#=> [[2, 3], [3, 2], [5, 1]]
This tells us that:
360 == 2**3 * 3**2 * 5**1
#=> true
It also tells us that every factor of 360 is the product of between 0 and 3 2's, multiplied by between 0 and 2 3's, multiplied by 0 or 1 5's. Therefore:
def factors(n)
Prime.prime_division(n).reduce([1]) do |a,(prime,pow)|
a.product((0..pow).map { |po| prime**po }).map { |x,y| x*y }
end
end
a = factors(360).sort
#=> [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18,
# 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 45, 60, 72, 90, 120, 180, 360]
We can check that:
a == (1..360).select { |n| (360 % n).zero? }
#=> true
One other check:
factors(40).sort
#=> [1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 40]
1. You could instead write that [*m..n] #=> [40, 41, 42].
2. Why is it not necessary to convert the range to an array? Enumerable#map, being an instance method of the module Enumerable, is available for use by every class that includes Enumerable. Array is one, but (m..n).class #=> Range is another. (See the second paragraph at Range).
3. Suppose f is smaller than n/f and f > n**0.5, then n/f < n/(n**0.5) = n**0.5 < f, a contradiction.