I wrote up a solution for a Google Code Jam problem as demonstrated:
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <map>
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
ifstream in;
in.open(argv[1]);
int t, c = 0;
in >> t;
while(c++<t) {
string msg;
in >> msg;
map<char,int> m;
int base = 0;
for(char& ch : msg) {
if(!m[ch]) {
base++;
m[ch] = base == 1 ? base : (base == 2 ? -1 : base - 1);
}
}
if(base < 2)
base = 2;
double total = 0;
double p = pow(base, msg.size()-1);
for(char& ch : msg) {
if(m[ch] != -1) {
if(c == 37) cout << "total=" << total << "+" << (m[ch] * p) << "=" << total + (m[ch] * p) << endl;
total = total + (m[ch] * p);
}
p /= base;
}
cout.precision(0);
cout << fixed << "Case #" << c << ": " << total << endl;
}
in.close();
return 0;
}
As you can see I have some debug statements being printed out for case 37 because some weird stuff happen there:
Case #36: 1000000000000000000
total=0+450283905890997376=450283905890997376
total=450283905890997376+100063090197999424=550346996088996800
total=550346996088996800+16677181699666570=567024177788663360
total=567024177788663360+5559060566555523=572583238355218880
total=572583238355218880+1853020188851841=574436258544070720
total=574436258544070720+1235346792567894=575671605336638592
total=575671605336638592+205891132094649=575877496468733248
total=575877496468733248+68630377364883=575946126846098112
total=575946126846098112+22876792454961=575969003638553088
total=575969003638553088+15251194969974=575984254833523072
total=575984254833523072+847288609443=575985102122132544
total=575985102122132544+564859072962=575985666981205504
total=575985666981205504+62762119218=575985729743324736
total=575985729743324736+20920706406=575985750664031168
total=575985750664031168+6973568802=575985757637600000
total=575985757637600000+129140163=575985757766740160
total=575985757766740160+28697814=575985757795437952
total=575985757795437952+1594323=575985757797032256
total=575985757797032256+177147=575985757797209408
total=575985757797209408+59049=575985757797268480
total=575985757797268480+6561=575985757797275072
total=575985757797275072+4374=575985757797279424
total=575985757797279424+729=575985757797280128
total=575985757797280128+81=575985757797280192
total=575985757797280192+2=575985757797280192
Case #37: 575985757797280192
As you can see, at some point the addition just works incorrectly (e.g 575985757797279424+729 = 575985757797280153 not 575985757797280128)
I'm incredibly dumbfounded by this behavior and would greatly appreciate any possible explanation.
