searching in n 2-dimensional arrays

Question

Help with how to implement searching on n 2-dimenssional arrays. To be more specific: If I have 6 tables and I am putting these into a 2-dimensional array.I will provide a value say 10 like how val=0 here. I need to search from these tables all the combination values that make up 10. The value will be computed taking values from all these tables.

public static int Main() {
  int[] a = {2,1,4,7};
  int[] b = {3,-3,-8,0};
  int[] c = {-1,-4,-7,6};
  int sum;
  int i; int j;  int k;
  int val = 0;
  for(i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
    for(j = 0;j<4;j++) {
      for(k = 0;k<4;k++) {
        sum = a[i]* b[j]* c[k];

        if(sum == val)
          System.out.printf("%d  %d  %d\n",a[i],b[j],c[k]);
      }
    }
  }
}

Answer 1

Following will be the code you require:

(The solution includes recursion making your problem go easier)

private ArrayList numbers = new ArrayList();

public void CalculateSum(int tableNumber)
{
    if(!Tables.isLast(tableNumber))
    {
        int[][] a = Tables.Get(tableNumber);
        for(int y = 0; y < a.length; y++)
        {
            for(int x = 0; x < a[y].length; x++)
            {
                numbers.add(a[y][x]);
                CalculateSum(tableNumber + 1);
                numbers.remove(tableNumber - 1);
            }
        }
    }else
    {
        int[][] a = Tables.Get(tableNumber);
        for(int y = 0; y < a.length; y++)
        {
            for(int x = 0; x < a[y].length; x++)
            {
                if((sum(numbers) + a[y][x]) == checkValue)
                {
                    PrintNumbers(numbers);
                    System.out.print(a[y][x]);
                    System.out.println();
                }
            }
        }
    }        
}

You need to implement a class ('Tables' as my solution) write methods:

boolean isLast(int tableNo): to check whether the given table is the last table your tables list

int[][] Get(int tableNo): to get the table with the specified index

Also the method sum should sum the values in the numbers ArrayList. PrintNumbers method should print the numbers in the numbers ArrayList in a row. checkValue is the value you want to check.

Hope this helps....

Please write if you want any clarification on this algorithm.