Why marathon contests?
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Why marathon contests?
There seems to be a trend towards very long contests. I wonder why? I think it would be better to have more numerous shorter contests with a mix of problems. With the long format the contest becomes an exercise in exhaustion. When the harder problems aren't solved we don't know whether it is because the contestants couldn't do them or because they fell asleep, or had to go to work or school, or had some social engagement ...
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shahriar_manzoor
- System administrator & Problemsetter
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Actually, the idea of marathon contest started to give people more chance to participate. The problemset was solvable in six hours but the time was given 8/9 hours - This happened in the first two GWCF contests. But the problem is that in one of the first two contests problems were solved in very short time. In internet contests we cannot prevent things like cut-copy-paste and the performance becomes often superhuman.
Often our problemsets are not all new. In the last contest three problems were from waterloo (Although they r from so remote contest that very few can take any advantage) and 1 from swedish and two from Alberta.
And obviously some people got some advantages. So we tried to make the contest longer and larger to nullify this effect.
As the first two contests become very easy (many teams solved all problems in very short time). But unfortunately, I am still a very inexperienced problem setter, so the problems of the last contest become very hard (or long) for even a nine hour contest, and some ambiguity/mistakes made it even harder, but obviously the top teams or persons were surely the bests (which was our initial goal to find the best teams not based on penalties). In future we will again be back to our normal formation (a 5 hour problem set) and 9 hours time to enable people of different time-zone to participate. Generally, our 12 problems are equivalent to eight problems of world finals (many easy problems are not a replacement for a hard problem although) so no harm done. Especially, the region where I live longer internet contest is a blessing as internet failure/power failure are a common issue. So longer contests give them a little chance to recover.
Actually it would be better if we could restrict people to submit upto six hours from where he started but make the duration of the contest nine hours. But at present that's not possible.
Thanks for your opinion. But I have also a personal opinion. Three hour contest is too short as an internet contest (at least from my region). Can that be made four hours?. As everyone else make a four hour individual contest.
Sorry for my poor english.
Often our problemsets are not all new. In the last contest three problems were from waterloo (Although they r from so remote contest that very few can take any advantage) and 1 from swedish and two from Alberta.
And obviously some people got some advantages. So we tried to make the contest longer and larger to nullify this effect.
As the first two contests become very easy (many teams solved all problems in very short time). But unfortunately, I am still a very inexperienced problem setter, so the problems of the last contest become very hard (or long) for even a nine hour contest, and some ambiguity/mistakes made it even harder, but obviously the top teams or persons were surely the bests (which was our initial goal to find the best teams not based on penalties). In future we will again be back to our normal formation (a 5 hour problem set) and 9 hours time to enable people of different time-zone to participate. Generally, our 12 problems are equivalent to eight problems of world finals (many easy problems are not a replacement for a hard problem although) so no harm done. Especially, the region where I live longer internet contest is a blessing as internet failure/power failure are a common issue. So longer contests give them a little chance to recover.
Actually it would be better if we could restrict people to submit upto six hours from where he started but make the duration of the contest nine hours. But at present that's not possible.
Thanks for your opinion. But I have also a personal opinion. Three hour contest is too short as an internet contest (at least from my region). Can that be made four hours?. As everyone else make a four hour individual contest.
Sorry for my poor english.
Waterloo's local contests are 3 hours. I suppose it would be possible to run the uva version longer, but the problem sets are calibrated for 3 hours.
For that matter, why not have the uva server call "time" for official scores but allow late submissions? I think this would be a worthwhile system change.
I appreciate your efforts in making up questions - there were more than enough original ones here to make a complete contest. I sympathize completely with the difficulty in making up easy-but-interesting problems. It is much easier to make up really hard ones!
For that matter, why not have the uva server call "time" for official scores but allow late submissions? I think this would be a worthwhile system change.
I appreciate your efforts in making up questions - there were more than enough original ones here to make a complete contest. I sympathize completely with the difficulty in making up easy-but-interesting problems. It is much easier to make up really hard ones!
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TanveerAhsan
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Nice Suggestions
shahriar_manzoor wrote:Actually it would be better if we could restrict people to submit upto six hours from where he started but make the duration of the contest nine hours.
shahriar_manzoor wrote:Three hour contest is too short as an internet contest
gvcormac wrote:why not have the uva server call "time" for official scores but allow late submissions?
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shahriar_manzoor
- System administrator & Problemsetter
- Posts: 399
- Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2002 2:00 am
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As far as Valladolid Contests are concerned we may take a middling approach. None of our contests may have duration more than seven hours in future. But if at the end of the contest we find that the problemset is hard and teams are struggling to solve the problems in the alocated time we may increase the time. So teams should be prepared for that as well. What I mean is that if one team solves all the problems then the contest will stop in due time. Otherwise the contest may be extended 1/2 hours.
Ofcourse I am not talking about sudden death
.But who knows what happens in future 
. And someday the feature of official time limit and extended time limit way also be implemented.
These are ofcourse my thought not a final decision.
Ofcourse I am not talking about sudden death
.But who knows what happens in future . And someday the feature of official time limit and extended time limit way also be implemented.These are ofcourse my thought not a final decision.