How to choose the best marks with specified credits in c programming? - c

Question

I want to make a program to get the weighted average (formula = (mark*(credits corresponds to it))/total credits) from the best(highest) 120 credits module from the following marks and credits (the credits corresponds to the module):
module[12]={48, 77, 46, 82, 85, 43, 49, 73, 65, 48, 47, 51}
credits[12]={60, 20, 20, 20, 10, 20, 10, 10, 10, 20, 20, 10}
What I have done is bubble sort the array, so that the array is sorted by decreasing manner to know which marks is higher, as shown below:
module[12]={85, 82, 77, 73, 65, 51, 49, 48, 48, 47, 46, 43}
credits[12]={10, 20, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10, 60, 20, 20, 20, 20}
And then I need to choose the best 120 credits module from the sorted array so that the weighted average will be maximum, but then I have no idea where to start. =(
Someone help me! Thanks a lot!
EDIT:
I have tried to work out the code myself, and eventually get the following code, it works, but for some special case it stop working =(
float credits=0, result=0;
n=0;
struct{
float credits;
float result;
float n;
float addpoint;
}point;
while (credits < 120){
credits+=credits[n];
result+=(result[n]*credits[n]);
n++;
}
if (credits != 120){
credits -= credits[n-1];
result -= (result[n-1]*credits[n-1]);
point.credits = credits;
point.result = result;
point.n = (n-1)-1;
point.addpoint = n;
again: while (credits < 120){
credits+=credits[n];
result+=(result[n]*credits[n]);
n++;
}
if (credits != 120){
point.credits -= credits[point.n-1];
point.result -= result[point.n-1]*credits[point.n-1];
point.n--;
credits = point.credits;
result = point.result;
n = point.addpoint-1;
goto again;
}
}
EDIT:
Solved. Using knapsack problem code/integer linear programming by the application of glpk

Answer 1

The other way, which is practical for small examples like the one you've got, is to use dynamic programming. One can build up a table of "optimal score if you use the first k subjects, and want credits to add up to T". The code's a bit messy because C doesn't make it particularly easy to have dynamically sized 2d arrays, but here's a solution. Probably your professor was expecting something along these lines.
A small note, I divided all the credits (and the target credits of 120) by 10 because the common factor was redundant, but the code works just fine without that (it'll just use a tad more memory and time).
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int max(int a, int b) {
return a > b ? a : b;
}
#define GET(t, i, j, n) ((t)[(i) * (n + 1) + j])
// optimize_marks takes arrays creds and marks (both of length n),
// and finds a subset I of 0..(n-1) that maximizes
// sum(i in I)creds[i]*marks[i], such that sum(i in I)creds[i] = total.
void optimize_marks(size_t n, int *creds, int *marks, int total) {
// tbl[k * (total + 1) + T] stores the optimal score using only the
// first k subjects for a total credit score of T.
// tbl[n * (total + 1) + total] will be the final result.
// A score of -1 means that the result is impossible.
int *tbl = malloc((n + 1) * (total + 1) * sizeof(int));
for (int i = 0; i <= n; i++) {
for (int T = 0; T <= total; T++) {
if (i == 0) {
// With 0 subjects, the best score is 0 if 0 credits are
// required. If more than 0 credits are required, the result
// is impossible.
GET(tbl, i, T, total) = -(T > 0);
continue;
}
// One way to get T credits with the first i subjects is to
// get T credits with the first (i-1) subjects.
GET(tbl, i, T, total) = GET(tbl, i - 1, T, total);
// The other way is to use the marks for the i'th subject
// and get the rest of the credits with the first (i-1) subjects.
// We have to check that it's possible to use the first (i-1) subjects
// to get the remainder of the credits.
if (T >= creds[i-1] && GET(tbl, i - 1, T - creds[i-1], total) >= 0) {
// Pick the best of using and not using the i'th subject.
GET(tbl, i, T, total) = max(
GET(tbl, i, T, total),
GET(tbl, i - 1, T - creds[i-1], total) + marks[i-1] * creds[i-1]);
}
}
}
int T = total;
for (int i = n; i > 0; i--) {
if (GET(tbl, i - 1, T, total) < GET(tbl, i, T, total)) {
printf("%d %d %d\n", i, creds[i-1], marks[i-1]);
T -= creds[i-1];
}
}
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
int creds[] = {6, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1};
int marks[] = {48, 77, 46, 82, 85, 43, 49, 73, 65, 48, 47, 51};
optimize_marks(12, creds, marks, 12);
return 0;
}
The program gives the solution as the ILP program:
12 1 51
11 2 47
10 2 48
9 1 65
8 1 73
5 1 85
4 2 82
2 2 77

Answer 2

This is an integer linear programming problem. You want to find a vector [x1 x2 x3 ... x12] where each of the x's is either 0 or 1, such that sum(x[i] * cred[i]) = 120 and that sum(x[i] * cred[i] * marks[i]) is maximised.
There's a large body of research in how to solve such problems, but there's existing solvers out there and ready for you to use and using them is going to save you a vast amount of time over coding a solver up yourself.
Here's a module file for glpk, a free linear programming and integer linear programming solver. You can run it by installing glpk, saving this to a file then running glpsol -m <filename>
set I := 1..12;
var x{I} binary;
param cred{I};
param marks{I};
maximize s:
sum{i in I}(x[i] * cred[i] * marks[i]);
s.t. totalcreds: sum{i in I}(x[i] * cred[i]) = 120;
solve;
printf {i in I} "%d: %d %d %d\n", i, x[i], cred[i], marks[i];
data;
param cred := 1 60, 2 20, 3 20, 4 20, 5 10, 6 20, 7 10, 8 10, 9 10, 10 20, 11 20, 12 10;
param marks := 1 48, 2 77, 3 46, 4 82, 5 85, 6 43, 7 49, 8 73, 9 65, 10 48, 11 47, 12 51;
end;
The output is this:
1: 0 60 48
2: 1 20 77
3: 0 20 46
4: 1 20 82
5: 1 10 85
6: 0 20 43
7: 0 10 49
8: 1 10 73
9: 1 10 65
10: 1 20 48
11: 1 20 47
12: 1 10 51
That is, you should pick courses 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (ie: the courses with a '1' by them).

Answer 3

You should probably start by isolating all the combinaisons of credits[] elements whose sum equals 120 and store them before calculating all the means.
It would look like that :
// test for all possible combinaisons :
// [0] + [1] + [2]..., [1] + [0] + [2]...
// starting point on the array : n
while(n < 12){
// if the sum isnt equal to 120 and
// we havent covered all the array yet
if(temp < 120 && i < 12){
// if i is different from the starting point
if(i < 11 && i != n){
i++;
temp += credits[i];
// store i
}
}
if(temp >120 && i < 11){
temp -= credits[i];
// remove i
i++;
}
if(temp == 120){
// starting point ++
n++;
}
}
It's not optimal, but it could work.