PUZZLE IBM-212
EBCDIC to ASCII conversion
IBM Research · Ponder This · 2015-12
IBM Ponder This #212 · December 2015
Last month, Gene Amdahl, an IBM fellow who was the chief architect of the legendary IBM 360 system, died at age 92.
In memory of his work, this month's challenge focuses on the IBM-360 character set (EBCDIC):
Find a formula to convert the 52 EBCDIC letters into ASCII using no more than 4 operators.
See
| Letter | EBCDIC | ASCII |
|---|---|---|
| A | 193 | 65 |
| B | 194 | 66 |
| C | 195 | 67 |
| D | 196 | 68 |
| E | 197 | 69 |
| F | 198 | 70 |
| G | 199 | 71 |
| H | 200 | 72 |
| I | 201 | 73 |
| J | 209 | 74 |
| K | 210 | 75 |
| L | 211 | 76 |
| M | 212 | 77 |
| N | 213 | 78 |
| O | 214 | 79 |
| P | 215 | 80 |
| Q | 216 | 81 |
| R | 217 | 82 |
| S | 226 | 83 |
| T | 227 | 84 |
| U | 228 | 85 |
| V | 229 | 86 |
| W | 230 | 87 |
| X | 231 | 88 |
| Y | 232 | 89 |
| Z | 233 | 90 |
| a | 129 | 97 |
| b | 130 | 98 |
| c | 131 | 99 |
| d | 132 | 100 |
| e | 133 | 101 |
| f | 134 | 102 |
| g | 135 | 103 |
| h | 136 | 104 |
| i | 137 | 105 |
| j | 145 | 106 |
| k | 146 | 107 |
| l | 147 | 108 |
| m | 148 | 109 |
| n | 149 | 110 |
| o | 150 | 111 |
| p | 151 | 112 |
| q | 152 | 113 |
| r | 153 | 114 |
| s | 162 | 115 |
| t | 163 | 116 |
| u | 164 | 117 |
| v | 165 | 118 |
| w | 166 | 119 |
| x | 167 | 120 |
| y | 168 | 121 |
| z | 169 | 122 |
Supply your answer as a mathematical expression. For example, one can switch from lower-case ASCII to uppercase ASCII (and vice versa) using a single operation: f(x)=x xor 32.
Solution
Best opened after a real attemptTo be added.