Hello!
I’m making this topic to ask about the total time formula in cook-off contests, which seems weird to me.
As a reminder, here is the way it’s computed:
The total time is the sum of the time consumed for each problem solved. The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the submittal of the first accepted run plus 10 penalty minutes for every previously rejected run for that problem. There is no time consumed for a problem that is not solved.
Why don’t we just use the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the last problem solved (+ penalties for all problems solved)?
The current formula gives an advantage to users who start with easier problems. This adds some randomness to the ranking. In my opinion, the order in which you solve the problems should not matter for the same total time.