Given a number n, determine what the nth prime is.
By listing the first six prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13, we can see that the 6th prime is 13.
If your language provides methods in the standard library to deal with prime numbers, pretend they don't exist and implement them yourself.
Execute the tests with:
$ elixir nth_prime_test.exs
In the test suites, all but the first test have been skipped.
Once you get a test passing, you can unskip the next one by
commenting out the relevant @tag :pending
with a #
symbol.
For example:
# @tag :pending
test "shouting" do
assert Bob.hey("WATCH OUT!") == "Whoa, chill out!"
end
Or, you can enable all the tests by commenting out the
ExUnit.configure
line in the test suite.
# ExUnit.configure exclude: :pending, trace: true
For more detailed information about the Elixir track, please see the help page.
A variation on Problem 7 at Project Euler http://projecteuler.net/problem=7
It's possible to submit an incomplete solution so you can see how others have completed the exercise.
if !System.get_env("EXERCISM_TEST_EXAMPLES") do
Code.load_file("nth_prime.exs", __DIR__)
end
ExUnit.start()
ExUnit.configure(exclude: :pending, trace: true)
defmodule NthPrimeTest do
use ExUnit.Case
# @tag :pending
test "first prime" do
assert Prime.nth(1) == 2
end
@tag :pending
test "second prime" do
assert Prime.nth(2) == 3
end
@tag :pending
test "sixth prime" do
assert Prime.nth(6) == 13
end
@tag :pending
test "100th prime" do
assert Prime.nth(100) == 541
end
@tag :pending
test "weird case" do
catch_error(Prime.nth(0))
end
end
defmodule Prime do
@doc """
Generates the nth prime.
"""
@spec nth(non_neg_integer) :: non_neg_integer
def nth(count) when count <= 0, do: raise ArgumentError
def nth(count) do
Stream.unfold([], &stack_primes/1)
|> Enum.at(count-1)
end
defp stack_primes([]), do: {2, [2]}
defp stack_primes([n|st]) do
np = next_prime(n+1, [n|st])
{np, [np, n|st]}
end
defp next_prime(n, s) do
cond do
Enum.any? s, &(rem(n,&1) == 0) -> next_prime(n + 1, s)
true -> n
end
end
end
A huge amount can be learned from reading other people’s code. This is why we wanted to give exercism users the option of making their solutions public.
Here are some questions to help you reflect on this solution and learn the most from it.
Community comments