Roman Number · Coding Gym

Given a decimal number N between 1 and 4999, find its corresponding Roman numeral.

Roman numerals are formed by the combination of these letters:

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I=1
V=5
X=10
L=50
C=100
D=500
M=1000

Rules to combine letters:

A letter repeats its value that many times (XXX = 30, CC = 200, etc.). A letter can only be repeated three times (except M).
If one or more letters are placed after another letter of greater value, add that amount (VI = 6 (5+1)).
If a letter is placed before another letter of greater value, subtract that amount (IV = 4(5-1)).

Input Format

The only input is N.

Constraints

1

1 <= N <= 4999

Output Format

The corresponding roman number.

Solutions

This is a classical problem admitting several solutions.

A solution in Haskell by Massimo Zanibon:

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module Main where

import Data.List

fromIntToRoman :: [(Int, String)]
fromIntToRoman
  = [(1000, "M")
    ,(900, "CM")
    ,(500, "D")
    ,(400, "CD")
    ,(100, "C")
    ,(90, "XC")
    ,(50, "L")
    ,(40, "XL")
    ,(10, "X")
    ,(9, "IX")
    ,(5, "V")
    ,(4, "IV")
    ,(1, "I")
    ]

convert :: Int -> String
convert 0 = ""
convert x = case find (\(y, ry) -> y <= x) fromIntToRoman of
              Nothing
                -> error "error in the code"
              Just (y, ry)
                -> let str1 = concat $ replicate (div x y) ry
                       rest = mod x y
                   in  str1 ++ (convert rest)

main :: IO ()
main = do
    inputString <- getLine
    putStrLn $ convert $ read inputString

A Rust solution by Alessandro Pezzato

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fn roman_number(mut n: u32) -> String {
    const TABLE: [(u32, &'static str); 13] = [
        (1000, "M"),
        (900, "CM"),
        (500, "D"),
        (400, "CD"),
        (100, "C"),
        (90, "XC"),
        (50, "L"),
        (40, "XL"),
        (10, "X"),
        (9, "IX"),
        (5, "V"),
        (4, "IV"),
        (1, "I"),
    ];

    let mut txt = String::new();

    for &(d, s) in TABLE.iter() {
        while n >= d {
            n -= d;
            txt.push_str(s);
        }
    }

    txt
}

A C++ solution based on binary search:

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#include <map>
#include <cstdio>
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;

string to_roman(int n)
{
	// defines the correspondence between a decimal number and the Roman symbol
	static const map<int, string> m{
		{ 1000, "M" }, { 900, "CM" }, { 500, "D" }, { 400, "CD" }, { 100, "C" },
		{ 90, "XC" }, { 50, "L" }, { 40, "XL" }, { 10, "X" }, { 9, "IX" },
		{ 5, "V" }, { 4, "IV" }, { 1, "I" },
	};

	string roman;
	while (n)
	{
		auto lb = m.lower_bound(n); // find the symbol
		if (lb == end(m) || lb->first != n)
			lb = prev(lb);
		roman += lb->second;
		n -= lb->first;
	}
	return roman;
}

int main()
{
    int n; cin >> n;
    cout << to_roman(n);
}

A more complex solution, in Rust, that uses only single characters instead of already composed numbers in the table.

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fn roman_number(mut n: u32) -> String {
    const TABLE: [(u32, char); 7] = [
        (1000, 'M'),
        (500, 'D'),
        (100, 'C'),
        (50, 'L'),
        (10, 'X'),
        (5, 'V'),
        (1, 'I'),
    ];

    let find_next_sub = |y: u32| TABLE.iter().find(|&&x| x.0 == y / 10).unwrap();

    let mut txt = String::new();

    /* This is the current power of ten to subtract */
    let mut u = find_next_sub(TABLE[0].0);

    for &(mut d, s) in TABLE.iter() {
        /* Subtract the number from table and add to string
         * the relative character until n is big enough.
         */
        while n >= d {
            txt.push(s);
            n -= d;
        }

        /* No more to subtract */
        if d == 1 {
            break;
        }

        if d == u.0 {
            u = find_next_sub(d);
        }

        /* Try with the number on the table minus the
         * power of ten in the same order of magnitude.
         */
        d = d - u.0;

        if n >= d {
            txt.push(u.1);
            txt.push(s);
            n -= d;
        }
    }

    txt
}

binary search