Challenge Details

Collective Minds Exploration C > Exploration Challenge

Please note that this event is being run for a TopCoder customer. By winning a prize in this event you agree to transfer ownership of your submission to TopCoder.

This is a summary with highlights of the challenge details. Please make sure to read all of the rules carefully before competing.

You must be eligible to compete in the match as defined in the rules.

This Marathon Match is a money match that has a $15,000 prize purse! The top four highest scorers will receive prizes with the first place winner receiving $7,000!

In TopCoder Marathon Match events, the system will be testing submissions for optimization according to the scoring criteria outlined in the problem statement that is associated with this event. Each event may have a different scoring mechanism. Competitors will have to understand the scoring mechanism in order to effectively compete.

Participants may submit code written in the following languages: Java, C++, C#.NET, or VB.NET.

Once the submission phase of a Marathon Match has ended, final testing will run and may take several days to complete. Upon completion of final testing, the final results will become available in the Marathon Match Archive on the web site. Competitors will be able to see the test case details, other competitors' submissions, and all final results. For rated events, the ratings will be adjusted once results are final.

For more details on the Marathon Match format, click here

The prize purse for this challenge is 15,000 USD and a trip to the 2013 TopCoder Open in Washington, DC! The 4 highest scorers in this round will receive compensation for their submissions as follows:

1st	$7,000 and a trip to the 2013 TopCoder Open
2nd	$4,000
3rd	$2,000
4th	$1,000

TopCoder may *offer* to purchase submissions that did not win any prize if the client is interested in using them.

Additionally, there are two $700 USD and $300 USD prizes for unusual and perspective ideas. Only contestants with 5th and lower final scores are eligible for these prizes. The ideas must be described and submitted in a text document. You do not need to implement your idea (though if it is incorporated into your marathon match final submission, it can be a plus). The submission phase for ideas is separate from the marathon match and will open once the match is over. Additional details will be communicated at the match forum. Evaluation of ideas is subjective, but the main evaluation criteria for the winning ideas is: can (and how much) the Top-4 marathon match algorithms benefit from this idea? TopCoder reserves the right not to award this prize if no ideas are considered to be useful enough.