Countdown Kata in Python

One of my favourite programming exercises is solving the “countdown” numbers game. Basically, you are given a set of input numbers and have to solve the target by adding, multiplying, subtracting or dividing them (using each input number only once).

As before, this isn’t an ideal solution, as I’m still getting to grips with Python. It uses recursion to find the first solution. I don’t keep track of the closest answer yet.

import unittest

class SolverUnitTests(unittest.TestCase):
    testCases = ( 
        (0, [], True),
        (1, [], False),
        (1, [1], True),
        (2, [1], False),
        (2, [1,1], True),
        (2, [1,7], False),
        (3, [1,1,1], True),
        (1, [3,2], True), # subtract
        (1, [2,3], True),
        (6, [2,3], True), # multiply
        (7, [2,3], False), 
        (4, [8,2], True), # divide
        (4, [2,8], True), # divide
        (4, [9,2], False), 
        (14, [1,7,1], True), # add and multiply
        (18, [1,7,3], True), # subtract and multiply
        (100, [11, 1, 11, 1], True),
        (2010, [25, 4, 2, 10, 5, 2], True),
        (2011, [25, 4, 2, 10, 5, 2], True),
        (2012, [25, 4, 2, 10, 5, 2], True),
        (2013, [25, 4, 2, 10, 5, 2], True),
        (2014, [25, 4, 2, 10, 5, 2], True),
        (16, [2,2,2], False)
        )

    def testCanSolve(self):
        for (target, numbers, solveable) in self.testCases:
            print 'solving', target, 'with', numbers
            solver = Solver(target)
            self.assertEqual(solveable, solver.Solve(numbers))
        
def add(first,second):
    answer = first + second
    return (answer, '%d+%d=%d' % (first,second,answer))

def subtract(first,second):
    answer = first - second
    if answer < 0:
        answer = 0
    return (answer, '%d-%d=%d'  % (first,second,answer))

def multiply(first,second):
    answer = first * second
    if answer < 0:
        answer = 0
    return (answer, '%d*%d=%d'  % (first,second,answer))

def divide(first,second):
    if (second == 0) or ( first % second != 0):
        answer = 0
    else:
        answer = first / second
    return (answer, '%d/%d=%d'  % (first,second,answer))

def pairs(list):
    for i in range(len(list)):
        for j in range(i+1,len(list)):
            yield (list[i],list[j])

class Solver:
    def __init__(self, target):
        self.target = target
        self.operations = (add, subtract, multiply, divide)
        
    def Solve(self, numbers):
        if (self.target in numbers) or (self.target == 0):
            return True
        return self.SolveList(numbers, '')
    
    def SolveList(self, numbers, solutionSoFar):
        numbers.sort(reverse=True)
        for (first, second) in pairs(numbers):
            for func in self.operations:
                (newNumber,solution) = func(first,second)
                if newNumber == self.target:
                    print self.target, ':', solutionSoFar + ', ' + solution
                    return True
                elif newNumber:
                    newList = list(numbers)
                    newList.remove(first)
                    newList.remove(second)
                    newList.append(newNumber)
                    #print 'retry with', newList
                    if self.SolveList(newList, solutionSoFar + ', ' + solution):
                        return True
        return False