nimbusbase interview problems

problem1.js

//output:
//906609
//993*913
//cost: 0.122 secs 
var start = new Date()
var last = 0;
var lastTxt = '';
for (var i = 999; i > 99; i--){
  for(var j = 999; j > 99; j--){
		var val = i*j;
		if(test('' + val)){
			if(val > last){
				last = val
				lastTxt = i + '*' + j;
			}
		}
	}
}
console.log(last);
console.log(lastTxt);
console.log('cost: ' + (new Date() - start) / 1000 + ' secs')

function test(text){
	var head = 0;
	var tail = text.length - 1;
	var r = true;
	while( head < tail){
		if(text[head] != text[tail]){
			r = false;
			break;
		}
		head++;
		tail--;
	}
	return r;
}

problem2.py

#output:
#(837799, 524)
#cost: 3.41419506073 secs
import time
start = time.time()
calced = [-1] * 1000001
last_max_count = 0
last_max_int = 0
for i in xrange(1,1000001):
    temp = i
    count = 0
    while True:
        if temp % 2 == 0:
            temp = temp / 2
        else:
            temp = temp * 3 + 1
        count = count + 1
        if temp == 1:
            if last_max_count < count:
                last_max_int = i
                last_max_count = count
            break
        if temp < len(calced) and calced[temp] > 0:
            count = count + calced[temp]
            if last_max_count < count:
                last_max_int = i
                last_max_count = count
            break
    calced[i] = count

print (last_max_int, last_max_count)
print 'cost: %s secs' % (time.time() - start)