Devise sequence-rule detection strategy

Q: Devise sequence-rule detection strategy

This is a Coding & Algorithms interview question from Optiver for Data Scientist roles. View the full question and solution on PracHub.

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Question

You are given an integer sequence with 2 ≤ n ≤ 50 terms, possibly following rules such as arithmetic/geometric progressions, alternating patterns, polynomial generation, digit-level transforms, interleaving of subsequences, or simple recurrences. Explain a systematic approach to infer the governing rule and predict the next k terms (1 ≤ k ≤ 5). Describe the heuristics you would apply in order (e.g., common-difference/ratio checks, finite differences, modulus patterns, alternating/parity splits, substring/digit operations), how you would detect insufficient evidence or multiple plausible rules, and how you would implement this as a program that outputs candidate rules scored by plausibility. Analyze time complexity and discuss how you would evaluate correctness under noisy or ambiguous sequences.

Devise sequence-rule detection strategy

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