The latest articles on DEV Community by Ayoub Sebbagh (@ayoubsebbagh16). https://dev.to/ayoubsebbagh16 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3982649%2F2ec1b1ad-5eaf-4c22-80df-a08a59f99133.png https://dev.to/ayoubsebbagh16 en Ayoub Sebbagh Sat, 13 Jun 2026 12:19:37 +0000 https://dev.to/ayoubsebbagh16/i-am-a-16-year-old-dev-and-built-a-heuristic-algorithm-for-the-subset-sum-problem-approximating-a6i https://dev.to/ayoubsebbagh16/i-am-a-16-year-old-dev-and-built-a-heuristic-algorithm-for-the-subset-sum-problem-approximating-a6i <p>First, peace be upon you. I am a 16-year-old programmer, and I tried to solve the well-known Subset Sum problem. Before starting the definition, the speed of the algorithm is approximately O(log N).</p> <p>How it works briefly:</p> <p>The Core Concept: I take the Target and add its inverse to the equation, trying to zero it out.</p> <p>Method of Zeroing Out: Done by converting numbers into positive and negative categories (tens, hundreds, thousands, etc.) to facilitate and speed up the search.</p> <p>Outlier Filtration: A category is considered an outlier if the largest number in it is greater than the sum of all categories from the opposite side combined.</p> <p>I had no prior knowledge of approximation algorithms or division into categories; everything I reached was on my own during this past month.</p> <p>I would highly appreciate it if you could review my approach, give me your honest feedback, and help me improve it! I will drop the GitHub repository link <a href="https://github.com/1dev1a/Subset_Sum_Heuristic_Algorithm_-O-log-N-" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/1dev1a/Subset_Sum_Heuristic_Algorithm_-O-log-N-</a></p> algorithms computerscience discuss showdev