lines = sorted(int(x.strip()) for x in open("input.txt")) one_count = 0 possibilities = 1 one_cache = [1] def count_one_possibilities(one_cnt: int): for idx in range(len(one_cache), one_cnt+1): one_cache.append(sum(one_cache[-3:])) return one_cache[one_cnt] # only 3 and 1 differences are available # 3 has to be taken / calculate possibilities for 1 hops prev = 0 for line in lines: diff = line-prev prev = line if diff == 1: one_count += 1 elif diff == 3: possibilities *= count_one_possibilities(one_count) one_count = 0 possibilities *= count_one_possibilities(one_count) print(possibilities) # 64793042714624 print(one_cache) # {0: 1, 1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 4, 4: 7}