large combination from small set

    Hello all, I was hoping it might be possible to look at a set of letters (atcg) and list all possible combinations to n
    eg if n = 5


    aaaaa
    taaaa
    caaaa
    gaaaa
    ataaa
    ttaaa


    etc... up to ggggg


    the application is to look at possible combinations of nucleid acids, I will then use functions to calculate exact mass from the combinations and use it as a lookup database. I still have not worked out if the number of combinations will be too large at n = 20


    I have seen a few examples of combinations where n is less than the number of items in the set but cannot find any way of doing this.


    Thankyou for any help


    Justin

    Re: large combination from small set


    You can use a recursive procedure, soemthing like:


    [vba]
    Sub Wrapper()


    Dim strLetters As String
    Dim lngN As Long


    strLetters = "atcg"


    lngN = 5


    Inner lngN, strLetters


    End Sub


    Sub Inner(ByVal lngN As Long, ByVal strLetters As String, Optional ByVal strAnswer As String = "")


    Dim lngLoop As Long
    Dim strTemp As String


    If lngN = 0 Then
    Debug.Print strAnswer 'or whatever you want to do with it
    Else
    For lngLoop = 1 To Len(strLetters)
    strTemp = strAnswer & Mid(strLetters, lngLoop, 1)
    Inner lngN - 1, strLetters, strTemp
    Next
    End If


    End Sub
    [/vba]


    HTH


    TJ

    Re: large combination from small set


    Hi Tinyjack,


    Thankyou for the reply... I cannot however get it to work. I copied the code to a module and ran it from a button. no errors but also nothing happened. How do I get the results to list down in the spread sheet?


    Thanks again.


    Justin


    Also if you are a mathematician type, is there a way of doing it using formula.


    There would be four constants A,T,C,G (the masses of the nucleotides)
    four variables (WXYZ) which add up to the number of nucleotides (so if 20 W+X+Y+Z=20)


    if M=total mass of the nucleotide string then


    AW+XT+YC+ZG=M


    would there be a way, if M is known, of calculating the possible values of WXY and Z.


    hell I dont know.

    Re: large combination from small set


    To see the results from the code you need to go into the VBE and look at the immediate window, which is where Debug.Print outputs to.


    With regards to the second part of your post, try puting the following code into an empty workbook and then running Main(). This is just some code I knocked up and as such I am sure there is a lot that could be done to improve it's efficency.


    ps Balls = nucleotides and Cups = four constants


    [vba]
    Option Explicit


    Dim lngRow As Long


    Sub Main()


    Dim lngCups As Long
    Dim lngBalls As Long


    Application.ScreenUpdating = False


    Sheet1.Rows("1:60000").Delete


    lngBalls = 20
    lngCups = 4


    lngRow = 1


    If doit(lngBalls, lngCups) < 60000 Then
    Details lngBalls, lngCups
    End If


    Application.ScreenUpdating = True


    End Sub


    Public Function doit(ByVal lngBalls As Long, ByVal lngCups As Long) As Long


    Dim lngloop As Long


    If lngCups = 1 Or lngBalls = 0 Then
    doit = 1
    Else
    For lngloop = 0 To lngBalls
    doit = doit + doit(lngloop, lngCups - 1)
    Next
    End If


    End Function


    Sub Details(ByVal lngBalls As Long, ByVal lngCups As Long, Optional ByVal strAnswer As String = "")


    Dim strTemp As String
    Dim lngloop As Long


    If lngCups = 1 Then
    If Len(strAnswer) > 0 Then
    strTemp = strAnswer & ";" & CStr(lngBalls)
    Else
    strTemp = CStr(lngBalls)
    End If
    OutputAnswer strTemp
    ElseIf lngBalls = 0 Then
    strTemp = strAnswer
    For lngloop = 1 To lngCups
    If Len(strTemp) > 0 Then
    strTemp = strTemp & ";0"
    Else
    strTemp = "0"
    End If
    Next
    OutputAnswer strTemp
    Else
    For lngloop = 0 To lngBalls
    If Len(strAnswer) > 0 Then
    strTemp = strAnswer & ";" & CStr(lngBalls - lngloop)
    Else
    strTemp = CStr(lngBalls - lngloop)
    End If
    Details lngloop, lngCups - 1, strTemp
    Next
    End If


    End Sub


    Sub OutputAnswer(ByVal strAnswer As String)


    Dim varAnswers As Variant
    Dim lngloop As Long


    varAnswers = Split(strAnswer, ";")


    For lngloop = 0 To UBound(varAnswers)
    Sheet1.Cells(lngRow, lngloop + 1).Value = varAnswers(lngloop)
    Next


    lngRow = lngRow + 1


    End Sub
    [/vba]


    HTH


    TJ

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