Each set of numbers has 4^3 = 64 possible sets of 3 operators.
Each set of operators has at most 3! = 6 ways to resolve precedence. Many
of these lead to the same result, but it doesn't matter.

With only 384 possibilities to check, I think you can just brute force it.

On Sunday, April 1, 2012, doom731 wrote:

> Problem is as :
>
> You received a transmission containing an expression of single digit
> positive integers (say: 9 *(5 – 4) * 3). However, during transmission
> all operators and brackets were lost and you only received 9 5 4 3.
> Given the array of digits, you have to calculate the least positive
> integer value of the expression that could NOT have been received by
> you.  The binary operators possible are *, +, -, / and brackets
> possible are ( and ).  Note that / is an integer division i.e. 9/5 =
> 1.
>
> Example:  You have received 6,6,4,4. The minimum positive integer that
> could NOT have been formed is  18. This is because integers less than
> 18 are formed as below.
>
> 1 = 6 /6 + 4-4
>
> 2 = 6/6 + 4/4
>
> 3 = 6  +( 6/4) -4
>
> 4 = (6+6+4) / 4
>
> ……..
>
> 18 cannot be formed
>
> Input Format:
>
> FIrst line contains an integer N, the number of digits in the array.
>
> Then follow N lines each containing a digit.
>
> Output Format:
>
> Print a single integer which is the required answer.
>
> Sample Input:
>
> 4
>
> 6
>
> 6
>
> 4
>
> 4
>
> Sample Output:
>
> 18
>
> Constraints:
>
> 1 <= N <= 10
>
> Note: You need not worry about the precedence of operators as you can
> impose necessary precedence using brackets at appropriate places.
>
>
> ==================================================================================
>
> I thought backtracking as an approach , but it will be a mess
> considering bracket-permutaions with operands.
>
> Can you suggest a better approach.
>
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-- 
Paul Smith

[email protected]

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