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SRM Official Rules & Qualification |
Official Rules and Regulations
No purchase necessary to enter or win.
Rooms
Each competition room will have a maximum of 20 coders. There will be 2 divisions. Division I is 1200 rating and up, while Division II is below 1200. The single round match room assignments will only place members of like divisions together. Any member who changes divisions as a result of a rating change will compete in their new division in the next rated event following the rating change.
About the Tournament
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When to start the Competition
TopCoder members must register from within the TopCoder Arena for this competition. Registration is from 08:00 AM EST to 10:55 AM EST. To register, login to the TopCoder Arena application, click on the 'Active Challenges' menu, choose the event to register for, and select the 'Register' option. TopCoder members from all over the country will be participating in this event, but when not indicated, start times will be communicated as Eastern Time, so contestants in different time zones must adjust accordingly. All competitors who have registered for the competition will be assigned to a specific competition room. TopCoder will perform the room assignments prior to the start of the competition, in a manner such that only coders in the same division are placed in the same room and the room assignments within each division are random. The competition will begin at 11:00 AM EST.
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Upon Entering an Online Tournament Round
Each online tournament round consists of three phases: the coding phase, challenge phase, and the testing phase. - The Coding Phase is a timed event where all contestants are presented with the same three questions representing three levels of complexity and, accordingly, three levels of point earnings potential. Points for a problem are awarded upon submission of any solution that successfully compiles.
- The Challenge Phase is a timed event wherein each competitor has a chance to challenge the functionality of other competitors' code. A successful challenge will award 50 points to the challenger, and any points gained by the submitter for the problem will be lost. Unsuccessful challenges will cost the challenger 25 points as a penalty, applied to their total score in that round of competition.
- The Automated Testing Phase is applied to all submitted code that has not already been successfully challenged. If TopCoder finds code that is flawed, the author of that code submission will lose all of the points they earned for that code submission. The automated tester will apply a set of inputs, expecting the output from the code submission to be correct. If the output from a coder's submission does not match the expected output, the submission is considered flawed. The same set of input/output test cases will be applied to all code submissions for a given problem.
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Scoring during Online Tournament Rounds
In the event that an SRM is being rated, all contestants who opened any problem during the round will have their algorithm rating adjusted up or down to reflect their performance, based on TopCoder's rating formula. Contestant ratings play no role in a Coder's final standing in the competition room.
Conditions of Participation
By participating in the tournament, you agree to be bound by these rules and to all decisions of TopCoder, which are final, binding and conclusive in all matters.
Contestants must not cheat; all ideas for any code and/or challenge submitted must be the contestant's alone.
Winners in each round of competition will be those competitors that win the most points in their respective rooms. All decisions relating to the viability of submissions, the ranking of submissions and all other matters pertaining to the tournament shall be within the sole discretion of TopCoder or its designee and shall be final and binding in all respects.
By participating in a tournament, a winner releases and agrees to hold harmless TopCoder, its affiliates, subsidiaries, sponsors, advertising and promotion agencies, and prize suppliers, and all of their respective directors, officers, employees, representatives and agents, from and against any and all liability for any loss, property damage or damage to person, including without limitation, death and injury, due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from or arising out of participation in this tournament, or participation in any tournament-related activity, or the receipt, use or misuse of a prize.
TopCoder, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person tampering with the entry process, the operation of the Web site, the tournament process, or is otherwise in violation of the rules. TopCoder reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the tournament if it is not capable of completion as planned for any reason, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort.
TopCoder does not require assignment of winning submissions in this competition.
Participants
The match is open to all members who are at least 13 years of age.
All competitors must be registered members of TopCoder, and must have agreed to the rules on this page by the 12.13.2007 10:55 AM EST deadline.
Employees of TopCoder and those involved in the development, production (including prize suppliers and sponsors), implementation and distribution of this tournament and their advertising or promotion agencies, parent companies, service providers, agents, officers, subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other persons or entities directly associated with the tournament and members of the immediate families and/or persons living in the same household as such persons, are ineligible to enter the tournament.
Other
The tournament is void in whole or in part where prohibited by law.
A winners list of coder handles for all competitions will be available on the web site at http://www.topcoder.com displayed for at least 3 months after the end of the competition.
This tournament is brought to you by TopCoder, Inc., 95 Glastonbury Blvd, Glastonbury, CT 06033.
