[R] A little exercise in R!

[(Ted Harding)]

Greetings all!
A recent news item got me thinking that a problem stated
therein could provide a teasing little exercise in R
programming.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-17680326

  Cambridge University hosts first European 'maths Olympiad'
  for girls

  The first European girls-only "mathematical Olympiad"
  competition is being hosted by Cambridge University.
  [...]
  Olympiad co-director, Dr Ceri Fiddes, said competition questions
  encouraged "clever thinking rather than regurgitating a taught
  syllabus".
  [...]
  "A lot of Olympiad questions in the competition are about
  proving things," Dr Fiddes said.

  "If you have a puzzle, it's not good enough to give one answer.
  You have to prove that it's the only possible answer."
  [...]
  "In the Olympiad it's about starting with a problem that anybody
  could understand, then coming up with that clever idea that
  enables you to solve it," she said.

  "For example, take the numbers one up to 17.

  "Can you write them out in a line so that every pair of numbers
  that are next to each other, adds up to give a square number?"

Well, that's the challenge: Write (from scratch) an R program
that solves this problem. And make it neat.

NOTE: If there should happen to be some R package that can solve
this kind of problem already, without you having to think much,
then its use is illegitimate! (I.e. will be deemed "regurgitation").

Over to you.

With best wishes,
Ted.

-------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at wlandres.net>
Date: 13-Apr-2012  Time: 22:33:43
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