From 901e76988d734277fa6ab7998150379297372af6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: philippus <philippus@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2024 11:44:18 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Add article for day 07

---
 docs/2024/puzzles/day07.md | 81 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 81 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/2024/puzzles/day07.md b/docs/2024/puzzles/day07.md
index 8c35e52a0..ea72d586a 100644
--- a/docs/2024/puzzles/day07.md
+++ b/docs/2024/puzzles/day07.md
@@ -2,10 +2,91 @@ import Solver from "../../../../../website/src/components/Solver.js"
 
 # Day 7: Bridge Repair
 
+by [@philippus](https://github.com/philippus)
+
 ## Puzzle description
 
 https://adventofcode.com/2024/day/7
 
+## Solution Summary
+
+1. Parse the input split the lines into the test value and the numbers on which we will operate
+2. Find the equations that can be made valid with the different operators (`*`, `+` and/or `||`).
+3. Sum the test values of the equations that are possibly true
+
+### Parsing
+
+Each line of the input contains a test value, followed by a colon and a space (`: `) and a list of numbers seperated by
+a space. Our parser iterates over the lines, extracts the test values and a list of numbers from each line.
+Since we will be summing potentially a lot of numbers, we use a `Long` and not an `Int`.
+
+```scala
+def parse(input: String): Seq[(Long, List[Long])] =
+  input
+    .linesIterator
+    .map:
+      case s"$testValue: $numbers" => (testValue.toLong, numbers.split(" ").map(_.toLong).toList)
+    .toSeq
+```
+
+### Part 1
+To find the equations that could possibly be true we iterate over the equations and check each of them using a recursive
+`checkEquation` function. Its input is the test value and the list of numbers and its return value is a boolean.
+In each iteration we have two choices, either we use the `*` operator, or we use the `+` operator.
+We apply the operator on the first two numbers in the list, and then we call `checkEquation` again with the result of the
+operation concatenated with the remaining numbers. So, the first number in the list serves as the accumulator.
+
+If there is only one number left in the list we compare the value with the test value and if it is equal the equation
+could be true.
+
+Finally, we sum up the test values of all the equations that could be true.
+
+```scala
+def checkEquation(testValue: Long, numbers: List[Long]): Boolean =
+  numbers match {
+    case fst :: Nil         =>
+      fst == testValue
+    case fst :: snd :: rest =>
+      checkEquation(testValue, (fst * snd) :: rest) || checkEquation(testValue, (fst + snd) :: rest)
+  }
+
+def part1(input: String): Long =
+  val equations = parse(input)
+  equations.map:
+    case (testValue, numbers) =>
+      if checkEquation(testValue, numbers) then testValue else 0L
+    .sum
+end part1
+```
+
+### Part 2
+In this part a new concatenation operator `||` is added that combines the digits from its left and right inputs into a
+single number, for this we expand the `checkEquation` function with a case that does exactly that. We use `toString` on
+the two numbers, concatenate them using `++` and then apply `toLong`, concatenate with the remaining numbers and call
+the `checkEquation` function.
+
+We add a `withConcat` parameter to the `checkEquation` function, so that we can use the same function for both parts 1
+and 2.
+
+```scala
+def checkEquation(testValue: Long, numbers: List[Long], withConcat: Boolean = false): Boolean =
+  numbers match {
+    case fst :: Nil         =>
+      fst == testValue
+    case fst :: snd :: rest =>
+      checkEquation(testValue, (fst * snd) :: rest, withConcat) || checkEquation(testValue, (fst + snd) :: rest, withConcat) ||
+        (withConcat && checkEquation(testValue, (fst.toString ++ snd.toString).toLong :: rest, withConcat))
+  }
+
+def part2(input: String): Long =
+  val equations = parse(input)
+  equations.map:
+    case (testValue, numbers) =>
+      if checkEquation(testValue, numbers, withConcat = true) then testValue else 0L
+    .sum
+end part2
+```
+
 ## Solutions from the community
 
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