Barnyard Components

Explanation of the Solve Function

The solve function is a critical component of the barnyard problem solver. It takes two input parameters: num_legs (the total number of legs) and num_heads (the total number of heads). The function’s purpose is to determine the number of pigs and chickens in the barnyard, given these inputs.

Algorithmic Approach

The algorithm used in the solve function is a simple yet efficient one. It iterates over all possible combinations of numbers of pigs and chickens that satisfy the following conditions:

  1. The total number of heads (pigs + chickens) equals num_heads.

  2. The total number of legs (4 times the number of pigs + 2 times the number of chickens) equals num_legs.

  3. Initialization: The function initializes an empty loop variable, num_chickens, to iterate over all possible combinations of pigs and chickens.

  4. Pig Count Calculation: Inside the loop, it calculates the number of pigs (num_pigs) as num_heads - num_chickens.

  5. Leg Count Calculation: It then calculates the total number of legs using the formula: 4 * num_pigs + 2 * num_chickens. This is based on the assumption that each pig has 4 legs and each chicken has 2 legs.

  6. Comparison: The function compares the calculated total number of legs with the input num_legs. If they match, it returns a tuple containing the number of pigs (num_pigs) and chickens (num_chickens).

  7. No Solution Found: If no matching combination is found after iterating over all possibilities (i.e., when num_chickens exceeds num_heads), the function returns [None, None], indicating that there is no solution.

Return Values

The solve function returns one of two possible return values:

The solve function uses a simple iterative approach to find the number of pigs and chickens in the barnyard, given the total number of legs and heads. It returns either a tuple with pig and chicken counts or [None, None] if no valid combination is found.