Hello Codeforces!

On May/15/2019 17:35 (Moscow time) Educational Codeforces Round 65 (Rated for Div. 2) will start.

Series of Educational Rounds continue being held as Harbour.Space University initiative! You can read the details about the cooperation between Harbour.Space University and Codeforces in the blog post.

This round will be rated for the participants with rating lower than 2100. It will be held on extended ICPC rules. The penalty for each incorrect submission until the submission with a full solution is 10 minutes. After the end of the contest you will have 12 hours to hack any solution you want. You will have access to copy any solution and test it locally.

You will be given 7 problems and 2 hours to solve them.

The problems were invented and prepared by Roman Roms Glazov, Adilbek adedalic Dalabaev, Vladimir vovuh Petrov, Ivan BledDest Androsov, Maksim Neon Mescheryakov and me. Also huge thanks to Mike MikeMirzayanov Mirzayanov for great systems Polygon and Codeforces.

Good luck to all participants!

Our friends at Harbour.Space also have a message for you:

Hello Codeforces!

We are collaborating with an external sponsor who is offering a unique scholarship opportunity for women who want to study Cybersecurity or Fintech, both for Bachelors and Masters level.

The scholarship includes:

• An up to $10,000, one-time financial award, paid to the University
• An all-expenses-paid trip to the EMEA Summit 28-30 October, 2019 in Berlin
• A Cybersecurity professional to serve as an industry mentor

Apply before May 30th and Harbour.Space will also consider you for a scholarship from our own funds.

Don't miss this chance to study with us in Barcelona!

If you have questions about the scholarship, please contact us at [email protected]!

Congratulations to the winners:

Congratulations to the best hackers:

And finally people who were the first to solve each problem:

UPD: Editorial is out

Hi all!

The main phase of VRt Contest 2019 has ended. In the preliminary standings, five contestants managed to obtain a score of more than 60,000 points. The fight continued to the last day. Who will emerge as the winner after the final testing? We will know after it ends. (Update: results in a separate comment.)

I invite the contestants to share their solution ideas in the comments below, or in separate posts if their writeup is too large for a comment.

I have nothing to say this time, so meet yet another Div. 3 round :)

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Hello! Codeforces Round 560 (Div. 3) will start at May/14/2019 17:35 (Moscow time). You will be offered 6 or 7 problems (or 8) with expected difficulties to compose an interesting competition for participants with ratings up to 1600. Probably, participants from the first division will not be at all interested by this problems. And for 1600-1899 the problems will be too easy. However, all of you who wish to take part and have rating 1600 or higher, can register for the round unofficially.

The round will be hosted by rules of educational rounds (extended ACM-ICPC). Thus, during the round, solutions will be judged on preliminary tests, and after the round it will be a 12-hour phase of open hacks. I tried to make strong tests — just like you will be upset if many solutions fail after the contest is over.

You will be given 6 or 7 (or 8) problems and 2 hours to solve them.

Note that the penalty for the wrong submission in this round (and the following Div. 3 rounds) is 10 minutes.

Remember that only the trusted participants of the third division will be included in the official standings table. As it is written by link, this is a compulsory measure for combating unsporting behavior. To qualify as a trusted participants of the third division, you must:

• take part in at least two rated rounds (and solve at least one problem in each of them),
• do not have a point of 1900 or higher in the rating.

Regardless of whether you are a trusted participant of the third division or not, if your rating is less than 1600, then the round will be rated for you.

Thanks to MikeMirzayanov for the platform, help with ideas for problems and for coordination of my work. Thanks to my good friends Mikhail awoo Piklyaev, Maksim Neon Mescheryakov and Ivan BledDest Androsov for help in round preparation and testing the round.

Good luck!

I also would like to say that participants who will submit wrong solutions on purpose and hack them afterwards (example) will not be shown in the hacking leaders table.

</almost-copy-pasted-part>

UPD: I also would like to thank nhho, chenjb and ksun48 for testing the round.

UPD2: I also would like to thank my friend Adilbek adedalic Dalabaev for valuable suggestions about the contest and testing it!

UPD3: Editorial is published!

UPD4:

Congratulations to the winners:

Congratulations to the best hackers:

And finally people who were the first to solve each problem:

Hello, Codeforces!

I'm glad to invite you to Codeforces Round 559 (Div. 1) and Codeforces Round 559 (Div. 2), which will be held on May/12/2019 17:35 (Moscow time). The round will be rated for both divisions (I hope).

All problems were written and prepared by me. Thanks to Aleks5d, TLE, sunset, Sulfox, peltorator for testing problems and good advice, 300iq for round coordination and help with preparation and MikeMirzayanov for great systems Codeforces and Polygon.

You will be given 6 problems in both divisions and 2 hours to solve them. Please, read all the problems. Good luck, have fun and I wish everyone high ratings!

The scoring distribution will be announced closer to the beginning of the round.

UPD

The contest finished, contgratulations to the winners:

Div1:

1. mnbvmar
2. ecnerwala
3. ainta
4. ksun48
5. ekzhang

Div2:

1. hbi1998
2. Nutella3000
3. calabash_fool
4. ahgus89
5. 1207koo

Editorial

Hi Codeforces!

I'm glad to introduce you to Codeforces Round 558 (Div. 2), which will take place on May/09/2019 18:05 (Moscow time).

You will have 6 problems and 2 hours to solve them. Two problems will have subtasks. Round will be rated for everyone with rating below 2100. Participants from the first division can also participate out of competition as usual.

The problems were prepared by me, xuandadenbenem, Shirone, and GreymaneSilverfang. I would like to thank cdkrot for his immense help during the round preparation, 300iq, mohammedehab2002, and Um_nik for testing them, and of course MikeMirzayanov for the Codeforces and Polygon platforms.

In the contest, you will meet Kuro, Shiro, Katie, and Selena, the four naughty but smart cats who love playing and asking questions. I hope you will find our problems interesting.

I will be in the community Discord server after the contest to discuss the problems with you. You can find the server here!

Good luck!

UPD1: Problem B and C will have 2 subtasks. The scoring distribution will be 500 — (750 + 500) — (1000 + 750) — 2250 — 2750 — 3250.

UPD2: The contest will be delayed by 15 minutes due to technical reasons. Sorry for the inconvenience :(

UPD3: Final standings!

Div. 1:

1. ainta (the only contestant to finish all problems!)

2. dreamoon_love_AA

3. hank55663

4. tfg

5. pmnox

Div. 2:

1. xht37

2. Ekoos

3. beka_asd

4. bbao69

5. OIerDb

The editorial is available here. Thank you for participating!

Hello, Codeforces!

Today I’ve released an important update of the Polygon — partial support for advanced properties of resources. The main task that is being solved by this update is to support the development of problems with graders.

In most competitions, participants need to submit a complete solution code, including reading an input reading and an output writing. For example, in Codeforces rounds you solve such kind of problems. However, in some competitions another approach is using: a participant needs to implement the required function or interface.

For example, in a problem statement can be written that in a C ++ solution you need to implement a function that has prototype int sum (int a, int b) and submit the implementation. In this case, a participant has to submit a source code that contains the implementation of this function. Then, in the process of judging this solution for such a problem, an online judge should compile and link into a single executable file the file sent by the participant and a special jury-prepared file that contains the rest of the necessary code (in particular, there will be the function main).

In the case of problem ``A + B’’, such file, which is called a grader, might look like (grader.cpp):

#include <iostream>
int sum(int a, int b);
int main() {
	int a, b;
	std::cin >> a >> b;
	std::cout << sum(a, b) << std::endl;
}

A solution might look like:

int sum(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
}

Therefore, a grader cannot be independently compiled into an executable file: it also needs a solution to the problem.

And now basic support for such problems in Polygon has been implemented (thanks to PavelKunyavskiy and cannor147 for the help!). I've started with C++ support only.

In order to add grader files, you must upload them as resources, specifying additional advanced properties: that resources are applicable to cpp.* language group, that they are compile-time resources and that solutions need to be compiled with them.

After adding such resources, while compiling solutions, they will be in the same folder with the solution, and those resources that are C++ files will be appended to the compiler command line.

Please note that all additional information for resources is available in the problem descriptor file problem.xml. Also, API is updated (see the documentation for the methods problem.files and problem.saveFile).

Later, the support of some other languages will be added. Also, I’ll add a feature to attach resources in a similar way not to solutions only, but also to validators/integrators/checkers. Of course, you can expect support for such kind of problems on Codeforces. I note that such problems can be used not only in olympiads/contests but also in the educational process. For example, I can easily imagine an exercise on Java, where you need to implement a given interface, and all other routines (unit tests and other things) are hidden in resources files.

P.S. The support of graders appeared for a special reason: today in Russia begins the IOI training camp. The best high school students will compete for the right to represent Russia on International Olympiad in Informatics. I hope, this feature will help the scientific committee to write new problems. And I wish participants every success and luck!

Hey! Together with Meet IT Foundation, we're delighted to present Camp IT!

So, what is it actually about? The main objective is to provide a place for development and networking for young programmers. This relates not only to algorithmic olympiads, but also to computer science activities of any kind!

Yet another IOI camp? Of course not! Although you will spend some time during the day doing IOI-styled problems, there are also Practice Activities and Evening Activities which aim to show you cool parts of computer science and give entertainment after a day of hard work.

Who can apply? You can apply if you're under $$$21$$$. Don't forget you need to fill in the Applicant Questionnaire, for which the time is May 2019.

What about money? We're happy to announce that you can attend Camp IT not caring about economical issues. We cannot reimburse travel costs, however.

If you would like to know more, refer to:

Camp IT website: Click!,

Meet IT website: Click!,

Meet IT Facebook Fanpage: Click!

See you in September! =)

What do you know about real Mathforces? This is a world full of numbers, theorems and formulas. Are you ready for the adventure full of challenges and dangers in a new world?

Our friends from Harbour.Space University, the International Tournament of Young Mathematicians (ITYM) and St. Paul's International School Barcelona for the second time organize Tech Scouts — two week International summer camp for high school students. I really think it is a valuable and useful initiative.

For some participants the organizers cover participation fee, the decision is based on the results in special online math test and phone interview.

I invite you to take part in Mathforces: Tech Scouts Online Test 2018 (just fun and practice, unofficial, unrated). It was offered to candidates a year ago, in 2018. This year participants can use it as a practice. I think for many of you it will be interesting to compare your math skills. It starts on May/05/2019 11:05 (Moscow time).

The duration of the test will be 2 hours. You will be offered about 20 math questions. Each of them are expected to be solved using math skills. Please refrain from writing code and try to solve problems without any programming.

You can skip questions or re-submit answers during the test. All the answers will be judged after the test ends. Each question costs 1-3 points in case of the correct answer. Please, do not share your answers before the end of the test.

For sure, the test will be unrated.

Please refrain from participation if you have already participated in this test last year.

UPD 1: The problems will be in English.

UPD 2: The tutorials are published.

Hello again Codeforces!

The Forethought Future Cup Final round will start on May 4th, 10:05am PDT. This round will be rated for everyone. There will be three separate rounds, one for onsite contestants, one for div1, and one for div2. Onsite and div1 will have the same problems. Each round will have 6 problems and be 2 hours long.

Here is a table of the onsite contestants.

The onsite round has cash prizes:

• 1st: $500
• 2nd: $250
• 3rd: $100
• 4th — 10th: $50

Thanks to ismagilov.code, mohammedehab2002, Jeel_Vaishnav, Learner99, 300iq, dojiboy9, vlyubin, y0105w49, KAN, arsijo for testing and coordination. Also, thanks to cyand1317 for one of the problems. Of course, thanks to MikeMirzayanov for Codeforces and Polygon, and for allowing us to host the round.

There might be some interactive problems again, so please read the interactive problem guide if you haven't before.

If you're still interested in applying, please fill out the form.

Updates

UPD 1 The scoring distribution will be:

• Div2: 500-1000-1500-2000-2500-3000
• Div1: 500-1000-1500-2000-2500-3250

UPD 2 Pictures from the onsite round: https://codeforces.me/blog/entry/66876

UPD 3: I'm sorry, but to prevent the leak of onsite results, we will postpone the start of system testing a bit. As soon as the closing ceremony finish at Forethought office, we will immediately start the system testing of the rounds. Until this time, the rounds will be hidden. But don't panic, this will only be temporary and we will return everything soon.

UPD 4: The results will be in around 90 minutes after the end of the competition.

UPD 5: Tutorial: https://codeforces.me/blog/entry/66878

UPD 6: Congratulations to the winners:

Onsite contest:

Div 1 contest:

Div 2 contest:

Codeforces! This is a special announcement!

Last year, we had a contest for Tech Scouts, our two week International Summer Camp of Science, Technology, Design and Leadership held in July. The top performers received a full tuition waiver to attend the camp free of charge!

This year, it’s on again — same rules, same prize...round 2. Are you ready?

What it is?

Harbour.Space University, the International Tournament of Young Mathematicians (ITYM) and St. Paul's International School Barcelona have designed a special online test for high school students, to take place on May 5th at 15.00 CET Time.

We’ve prepared it to test your level in both maths and computer science, and, similarly to last year, the top performers have a chance to win two weeks in Tech Scouts: our maths and computer science summer camp for gifted youth. The camp, created for high school pupils aged 12-18, will take place from the 8th to the 19th of July in Barcelona, Spain, and is taught entirely in English.

How it works?

You can take part in the online test if all the following conditions are met:

1. Between the ages of 12 to 18,
2. Have not graduated from high school
3. Eligible to take part in IOI/IMO 2020.

The top performers of the online contest will be invited for a personal interview to demonstrate understanding of the problems solved during the contest. After the test, the most successful performers will be interviewed and awarded a full tuition waiver to attend the advanced level of the Advanced Technical Track of Tech Scouts alongside the winners of ITYM and Catalan Olympiad of Informatics.

Tech Scouts is designed to lay out the foundation of knowledge in mathematics and computer science for the next phase of higher learning. During a two-week intensive training, the students will follow a college level curriculum and discover their passions by getting to know one of Europe’s leading institutions in technology, design, and entrepreneurship.

In order to register for the contest, please fill out this form before May 3rd, 2019. All participants of the contest will get a 20% discount link to attend Tech Scouts.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! If not, best of luck with the contest, and we hope to see you guys soon!

Until then, you can keep up with Harbour.Space by checking out our Instagram @harbour.space :)

Happy coding! Harbour.Space University