Cut a 18-metre cable into priced pieces that span it exactly — for the most money.

Each piece-length has a fixed price and you can cut a length as many times as you like. The pieces must add up to exactly 18 metres. Maximize total price.

Practice — no rating pressure. Get as close to the optimum as you can; each play teaches the pattern.

Cable · 18m

18m left to cut

1m piece

$3 · $3.00/m

3m piece

$4 · $1.33/m

5m piece

$5 · $1.00/m

7m piece

$23 · $3.29/m

8m piece

$25 · $3.13/m

12m piece

$23 · $1.92/m

Cut the Cable — practice the decision, scored against the optimum

What does the Cut the Cable puzzle teach?

Slice a cable into priced piece-lengths summing to exactly its length for the most money — that's an unbounded-knapsack DP, not best-price-per-unit greed.

Why do interviews ask about this?

Unbounded knapsack / rod cutting — the canonical reuse-subproblem-optima-over-a-1D-length DP, testing whether you reach for value-density greed or spot the overlapping subproblems.

How is it scored?

The engine computes the provably-optimal answer for the exact instance you played (dynamic programming, shortest-path, or exhaustive search — never a heuristic) and scores your attempt as a percentage of it. No login needed to see your score.

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Practice0:00

Cut the Cable · D1

Cut a 18-metre cable into priced pieces that span it exactly — for the most money.

Each piece-length has a fixed price and you can cut a length as many times as you like. The pieces must add up to exactly 18 metres. Maximize total price.

Practice — no rating pressure. Get as close to the optimum as you can; each play teaches the pattern.

Cable · 18m

18m left to cut

1m piece

$3 · $3.00/m

3m piece

$4 · $1.33/m

5m piece

$5 · $1.00/m

7m piece

$23 · $3.29/m

8m piece

$25 · $3.13/m

12m piece

$23 · $1.92/m