USC Programming Contest
Fall 2025 USC Programming Contest
Problems
The problems are available as a PDF document. The table below contains sample solutions programmed by participants during the contest, as well as the input data and correct solutions used by the judges. Note that the judges' sample C++ solutions also include an input validator to ensure that the generated test cases satisfy the specs we gave.
| Problem | C/C++ solution | Java/Python solution | Judges' C++ solution | Input | Correct Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A - Layoffs | Matthew Zhang | Spencer Tran | layoffs.cpp | layoffs.in | layoffs.out |
| B - Salary Cuts | no solution | no solution | salary.cpp | salary.in | salary.out |
| C - Course Producers | Vayun Mathur | Jacob Scheff | cps.cpp | cps.in | cps.out |
| D - Lawsuits | Alvin Tan | no solution | lawsuits.cpp | lawsuits.in | lawsuits.out |
| E - Overhead | Peiran Qiu | Amelia Schroeder | overhead.cpp | overhead.in | overhead.out |
| F - Pet Projects | Chen Gong | no solution | projects.cpp | projects.in | projects.out |
Results
There were 20 participants. Out of these, 14 solved at least one problem, 11 solved at least two problems, 6 students solved at least 3 problems, and 5 students solved 4 problems.
| Rank | Name | Problems solved | cumulative time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peiran Qiu (CSCI Junior) | 4 | 358 |
| 2 | Vayun Mathur (CSCI Junior/Senior) | 4 | 432 |
| 3 | Chen Gong (CSCI PhD) | 4 | 468 |
| 4 | Alvin Tan (CSCI Sophomore) | 4 | 596 |
| 5 | Tycho Elling (Math PhD) | 4 | 849 |
The complete final standings are also available.
We would like to thank VSoE for making the labs available for the contest. David Kempe wrote the problem set. Changyu Zhu and Chenghao Wang provided standard solutions and test cases. Yue Wu worked as contest judge. Daniel Yip and Loc Vo created and installed the contest environment on the machines. Multiple volunteers from ACM and Isabel Fernandez from Viterbi IT helped with running the contest.
