[Hackerrank Challenges - Sherlock and Squares ] (https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/sherlock-and-squares/problem)

CM: This challenge requires strategy, not brute force.

I look at the square root of the minimum and the maximum in the supplied range. If the minimum is itself a square number, I add one to the counter. Then I count the integers in the range.

This is a good challenge for recruitment purposes.

#!/bin/python3 import math import os import random import re import sys # Complete the squares function below. def squares(a, b): retVal = 0 aPrime = int(math.sqrt(a) // 1) if (aPrime == math.sqrt(a)): retVal = 1 bPrime = int(math.sqrt(b) // 1) for blah in range (aPrime, bPrime): retVal += 1 return (retVal) if __name__ == '__main__': fptr = open(os.environ['OUTPUT_PATH'], 'w') q = int(input()) for q_itr in range(q): ab = input().split() a = int(ab[0]) b = int(ab[1]) result = squares(a, b) fptr.write(str(result) + '\n') fptr.close()