Challenge Overview
Welcome to our first challenge of the fun puzzle series! We plan to run these puzzles once every month or so. The puzzles can be solved by hand or with the help of a computer. You can reach out in the forums for any questions, but please do not share any ideas or solutions relating to the puzzle itself.
Challenge Schedule
This is a 7 day challenge. It will start on August 13th, 09:00 UTC-4 and end on August 20th, 09:00 UTC-4.
Puzzle
A hexagon contains 15 vertex-to-vertex distances. A hexagon is called K-special if it contains every integer vertex-to-vertex distance from 1 to K, inclusive. Can you find a K-special hexagon with the highest value of K?
Note that the hexagon must be strictly convex, so all its interior angles must be strictly less than 180 degrees. Also it cannot be degenerate (area of 0).
Judging Criteria
The submissions will be judged on the following criteria:
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A solution will be considered better if it uses a higher value of K.
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Ties will be broken by submission time.
Submission Guidelines
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Submit a .zip file that includes your solution to the puzzle and your Topcoder handle. The file format can be any of the following: .txt, .png, .jpeg or .pdf.
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Provide an explanation to your solution and how you found it.
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You can make multiple submissions, but only your last submission will be used for evaluation.