What do you hear, what do you say? def count_and_say(digits): Given a string of digits that is guaranteed to contain only digit characters from ' XXXXXXXXXX', read that string “out loud” by saying how...

What do you hear, what do you say?

def count_and_say(digits):

Given a string of digits that is guaranteed to contain only digit characters from '0123456789', read that string “out loud” by saying how many times each digit occurs consecutively in the current bunch of digits, and then return the string of digits that you just said out loud. For example, given

the digits '222274444499966', we would read it out loud as “four twos, one seven, five fours, three nines, two sixes” for the result string '4217543926'.

As silly and straightforward as this "count-and-say sequence" problem might initially seem, it required the genius of no lesser mathematician than John Conway to notice the tremendous complexity ready to burst out just below its surface and then capture that whole mess into a

symbolic polynomial equation, as the man himself explains in this Numberphile video. Interested students can also check out the related construct of the infinitely long and yet perfectly selfdescribing Kolakoski sequence where only the lengths of each consecutive block of digits is written into the result string, not the actual digits.

Extracted text: digits Expected result '333388822211177' '4338323127' '11221122' '21222122' '123456789' '111213141516171819' '777777777777777' '157' '1' '11'