Problem 008 : Largest Product in a Series

Largest product in a series

Problem 8

The four adjacent digits in the 1000-digit number that have the greatest product are 9 × 9 × 8 × 9 = 5832.

73167176531330624919225119674426574742355349194934
96983520312774506326239578318016984801869478851843
85861560789112949495459501737958331952853208805511
12540698747158523863050715693290963295227443043557
66896648950445244523161731856403098711121722383113
62229893423380308135336276614282806444486645238749
30358907296290491560440772390713810515859307960866
70172427121883998797908792274921901699720888093776
65727333001053367881220235421809751254540594752243
52584907711670556013604839586446706324415722155397
53697817977846174064955149290862569321978468622482
83972241375657056057490261407972968652414535100474
82166370484403199890008895243450658541227588666881
16427171479924442928230863465674813919123162824586
17866458359124566529476545682848912883142607690042
24219022671055626321111109370544217506941658960408
07198403850962455444362981230987879927244284909188
84580156166097919133875499200524063689912560717606
05886116467109405077541002256983155200055935729725
71636269561882670428252483600823257530420752963450

Find the thirteen adjacent digits in the 1000-digit number that have the greatest product. What is the value of this product?

                                                                                                           https://projecteuler.net/problem=8

Problem 8 is a simple problem if we know how to deal with string and char.

First, we store the series into a string.

private static final String NUM = "7316717653133062491922511967442657474235534919493496983520312774506326239578318016984801869478851843858615607891129494954595017379583319528532088055111254069874715852386305071569329096329522744304355766896648950445244523161731856403098711121722383113622298934233803081353362766142828064444866452387493035890729629049156044077239071381051585930796086670172427121883998797908792274921901699720888093776657273330010533678812202354218097512545405947522435258490771167055601360483958644670632441572215539753697817977846174064955149290862569321978468622482839722413756570560574902614079729686524145351004748216637048440319989000889524345065854122758866688116427171479924442928230863465674813919123162824586178664583591245665294765456828489128831426076900422421902267105562632111110937054421750694165896040807198403850962455444362981230987879927244284909188845801561660979191338754992005240636899125607176060588611646710940507754100225698315520005593572972571636269561882670428252483600823257530420752963450";

Then we will store each item into char array so that we attain an easy access to each value.

int[] digit = new int[NUM.length()];
for (int i=0; i < NUM.length(); i++)
 digit[i] = Character.digit(NUM.charAt(i), 10);

Now, we just need to use nested for-loop to find the greatest 13-adjacent product in the series.

long max = 0;
for (int i=0; i <= NUM.length()-LEN; i++)
{
 long temp = 1;
 for (int j=i; j < i+LEN; j++)
 {
  if (digit[j] == 0) break;
  temp *= digit[j];
 }
 if (temp > max) max = temp;
}
System.out.println(max);

Answer is 23514624000
Execution time is 1 ms, or 0.001 seconds
Source code: https://github.com/Ainodyne/Project-Euler/blob/master/Problem008.java