Original Blog Entry: Quick win on a rosalind.info tree challenge

hypersoniq — Tue, 12 May 2026 18:58:30 GMT

Crazy how the strange tree theorems I learned in college have an actual applied use outside of homework...

So the problem sets up this long winded explanation of unrooted tree theories and wants you to determine the total number of internal leaves on the tree... for an unrooted tree, this is returned as n-2... that's it! So basically I downloaded their challenge number, subtracted 2 then resubmitted... this was one of those moments where the CS degree came in handy. I could not imagine having to come at this from the other side, Bio to CS... I am picking up the biology on an as needed basis.

I also learned that the python pow() function accepts a modulo as a third argument... sometimes these biological problems would quickly flood your RAM if you are not thinking of efficiency from the start. Many of the combinatoric solutions want you to use modulo 1,000,000 to keep from freezing your cpu.... [ More ]