Problem: In the $20\times 20$ grid below, four numbers along a diagonal line have been marked in red.

08 02 22 97 38 15 00 40 00 75 04 05 07 78 52 12 50 77 91 08
49 49 99 40 17 81 18 57 60 87 17 40 98 43 69 48 04 56 62 00
81 49 31 73 55 79 14 29 93 71 40 67 53 88 30 03 49 13 36 65
52 70 95 23 04 60 11 42 69 24 68 56 01 32 56 71 37 02 36 91
22 31 16 71 51 67 63 89 41 92 36 54 22 40 40 28 66 33 13 80
24 47 32 60 99 03 45 02 44 75 33 53 78 36 84 20 35 17 12 50
32 98 81 28 64 23 67 10 26 38 40 67 59 54 70 66 18 38 64 70
67 26 20 68 02 62 12 20 95 63 94 39 63 08 40 91 66 49 94 21
24 55 58 05 66 73 99 26 97 17 78 78 96 83 14 88 34 89 63 72
21 36 23 09 75 00 76 44 20 45 35 14 00 61 33 97 34 31 33 95
78 17 53 28 22 75 31 67 15 94 03 80 04 62 16 14 09 53 56 92
16 39 05 42 96 35 31 47 55 58 88 24 00 17 54 24 36 29 85 57
86 56 00 48 35 71 89 07 05 44 44 37 44 60 21 58 51 54 17 58
19 80 81 68 05 94 47 69 28 73 92 13 86 52 17 77 04 89 55 40
04 52 08 83 97 35 99 16 07 97 57 32 16 26 26 79 33 27 98 66
88 36 68 87 57 62 20 72 03 46 33 67 46 55 12 32 63 93 53 69
04 42 16 73 38 25 39 11 24 94 72 18 08 46 29 32 40 62 76 36
20 69 36 41 72 30 23 88 34 62 99 69 82 67 59 85 74 04 36 16
20 73 35 29 78 31 90 01 74 31 49 71 48 86 81 16 23 57 05 54
01 70 54 71 83 51 54 69 16 92 33 48 61 43 52 01 89 19 67 48

The product of these numbers is $26\times 63\times 78\times 14 = 1788696$.

What is the greatest product of four adjacent numbers in any direction (up, down, left, right, or diagonally) in the $20\times 20$ grid?

### Python Solution

Much like Project Euler Problem 8, I’m just going to produce a Python-only solution (because the problem is not very inspiring) and be done with it.

import time   start = time.time()   L = [] L.append("08 02 22 97 38 15 00 40 00 75 04 05 07 78 52 12 50 77 91 08") L.append("49 49 99 40 17 81 18 57 60 87 17 40 98 43 69 48 04 56 62 00") L.append("81 49 31 73 55 79 14 29 93 71 40 67 53 88 30 03 49 13 36 65") L.append("52 70 95 23 04 60 11 42 69 24 68 56 01 32 56 71 37 02 36 91") L.append("22 31 16 71 51 67 63 89 41 92 36 54 22 40 40 28 66 33 13 80") L.append("24 47 32 60 99 03 45 02 44 75 33 53 78 36 84 20 35 17 12 50") L.append("32 98 81 28 64 23 67 10 26 38 40 67 59 54 70 66 18 38 64 70") L.append("67 26 20 68 02 62 12 20 95 63 94 39 63 08 40 91 66 49 94 21") L.append("24 55 58 05 66 73 99 26 97 17 78 78 96 83 14 88 34 89 63 72") L.append("21 36 23 09 75 00 76 44 20 45 35 14 00 61 33 97 34 31 33 95") L.append("78 17 53 28 22 75 31 67 15 94 03 80 04 62 16 14 09 53 56 92") L.append("16 39 05 42 96 35 31 47 55 58 88 24 00 17 54 24 36 29 85 57") L.append("86 56 00 48 35 71 89 07 05 44 44 37 44 60 21 58 51 54 17 58") L.append("19 80 81 68 05 94 47 69 28 73 92 13 86 52 17 77 04 89 55 40") L.append("04 52 08 83 97 35 99 16 07 97 57 32 16 26 26 79 33 27 98 66") L.append("88 36 68 87 57 62 20 72 03 46 33 67 46 55 12 32 63 93 53 69") L.append("04 42 16 73 38 25 39 11 24 94 72 18 08 46 29 32 40 62 76 36") L.append("20 69 36 41 72 30 23 88 34 62 99 69 82 67 59 85 74 04 36 16") L.append("20 73 35 29 78 31 90 01 74 31 49 71 48 86 81 16 23 57 05 54") L.append("01 70 54 71 83 51 54 69 16 92 33 48 61 43 52 01 89 19 67 48")   M = [i.split() for i in L] M = [[int(j) for j in i] for i in M]   # there are 20 rows, each containing 20 integers max_prod = 0   for i in range(20): for j in range(16): # right/left products prod = M[i][j]*M[i][j+1]*M[i][j+2]*M[i][j+3] if prod > max_prod: max_prod = prod # up/down products prod = M[j][i]*M[j+1][i]*M[j+2][i]*M[j+3][i] if prod > max_prod: max_prod = prod   # diagonal products for i in range(16): for j in range(16): prod = M[i][j]*M[i+1][j+1]*M[i+2][j+2]*M[i+3][j+3] if prod > max_prod: max_prod = prod for i in range(3,20): for j in range(16): prod = M[i][j]*M[i-1][j+1]*M[i-2][j+2]*M[i-3][j+3] if prod > max_prod: max_prod = prod   elapsed = (time.time() - start)   print "%s found in %s seconds" % (max_prod,elapsed)

When executed, we get the following result.

70600674 found in 0.00326800346375 seconds