yeah true

+1 for the instruction on this part being confusing.

Yes there are

Totally agree. I love the problem, but feel that it is rated too high.

Sometimes a simulation isn't the best way to solve a problem.

Sometimes "simple" could be wrong...

In general the given string won't be a "squared" string hence to get a "squared" string you have to add characters. The characters to add until the string is squared is char of ascii code 11. Doing so we modify the original string and to avoid confusion you are guaranteed that the original string doesn't already have this char. Hope this help.

You're welcome :-)

...

Reducing the time complexity is the whole idea of the kata -_-

It should be at most O(log(n)) to pass the tests.

Well, so far I don't think anyone actually knows what's going on with the solutions (not me either ;-)), so I'm afraid you're out of help ;-)

But maybe squinting at the pattern will help you a bit? ;-)

But there's also the <= 2^48 ;-)

Do you think you have to time to count to 2^48 one by one?

Check input range ;-)

Your function should return only one integer, but it's tested 100 times with different expected answers.