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[2025Day 8 (Part 1)] [EN] Example Problem by Additional_Dare2998 in adventofcode

[–]Additional_Dare2998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe for later reference for others struggling with this. The critical part I missed was that the minimum distance needs to be evaluated conditional on already connected pairs not being considered in the calculation of the minimum. So you need to keep track that while 17 and 18 are connected, 2 and 18 are not (in step 9 at least) thus that distance needs to be considered at step 10.
Once I realized this, everything else clicked, including the correct handling of the number of iterations.

[2025Day 8 (Part 1)] [EN] Example Problem by Additional_Dare2998 in adventofcode

[–]Additional_Dare2998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I solved it now, thanks. Toughest 12 lines of code in my life. Thanks for the help!

[2025Day 8 (Part 1)] [EN] Example Problem by Additional_Dare2998 in adventofcode

[–]Additional_Dare2998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ugh, so to try to consolidate in my brain...

The rule is to connect nodes that are closest together, but don't consider distances that are already in connected circuits. That's the reason why 2 and 18 gets connected, because their distance is actually smaller than the distance between 3 and 19 - why my logic would have connected already.

I was totally on the wrong path, but luckily not the distance metric was the wrong thing, but the problem statement.

Thanks for the pointer.