My answers assumes an odd numbered spirals (I inferred it from “The
number zero represents the center of the spiral”).
Sorry for my beginners ruby (are there some standard min(x,y)/max(x,y,)
functions?)
The approach is to work out a standard equation for the value in any
cell (I ended up with two, for the top left and bottom right) and then
to iterate through each cell and calculate the value. The algorithm is
stateless.
class SpiralMaker
def make_spiral(size)
# only allow odd numbered squares (as zero is centre)
if (size.modulo(2) == 0)
exit(1)
end
#step along row
(1..size).each do |y|
# step down columns
(1..size).each do |x|
# are we in top left or bottom right half of spiral?
if (y+x <= size)
# top left - calculate value
sn = size - (2 * (min(x,y) - 1))
val = (sn*sn) - (3*sn) + 2 - y + x
else
# bottom right - calculate value
sn = size - (2 * (size - max(x,y)))
val = (sn*sn) - sn + y - x
end
# Print value
STDOUT.printf "%03d ", val
end
# Next line
STDOUT.print "\n"
end
This one works for even and odd spirals (obvious really)
class SpiralMaker
def make_spiral(square_size)
# allow for even numbered squares by missing off the last row and
column
size = square_size
if (square_size.modulo(2) == 0)
square_size = square_size+1
end
#step along row
(1..size).each do |y|
# step down columns
(1..size).each do |x|
# are we in top left or bottom right half of spiral?
if (y+x <= square_size)
# top left - calculate value
sn = square_size - (2 * (min(x,y) - 1))
val = (sn*sn) - (3*sn) + 2 - y + x
else
# bottom right - calculate value
sn = square_size - (2 * (square_size - max(x,y)))
val = (sn*sn) - sn + y - x
end
# Print value
STDOUT.printf "%03d ", val
end
# Next line
STDOUT.print "\n"
end