It's not the hard way, it's the way you're supposed to "solve" a PE problem. Almost all of them are trivially solvable by brute force and a sufficiently powerfu

It's not the hard way, it's the way you're supposed to "solve" a PE problem. Almost all of them are trivially solvable by brute force and a sufficiently powerful computer. Instead you're supposed to analyze the problem and find a mathematical "trick" that makes it solvable even with pen and paper.