Day 15: Beacon Exclusion Zone

Day 15 involves analyzing sensor coverage to find positions where beacons cannot be present.

Problem Overview

You need to help locate a distress beacon in a cave system. There are several sensors that can detect the nearest beacon, and you need to use this information to:

  1. Determine positions where a beacon cannot possibly be located
  2. Find the one position in a specific area where the distress beacon must be located

The key aspects of this problem are:

  • Each sensor reports its position and the position of the nearest beacon
  • The distance between a sensor and its nearest beacon is calculated using Manhattan distance
  • For Part 1, you need to count positions that cannot contain a beacon in a specific row
  • For Part 2, you need to find the only possible position for the distress beacon in a large area

This problem tests your ability to work with ranges and coordinate systems efficiently.