# Posts tagged as “greedy”

There are n seats and n students in a room. You are given an array seats of length n, where seats[i] is the position of the ith seat. You are also given the array students of length n, where students[j] is the position of the jth student.

You may perform the following move any number of times:

• Increase or decrease the position of the ith student by 1 (i.e., moving the ith student from position x to x + 1 or x - 1)

Return the minimum number of moves required to move each student to a seat such that no two students are in the same seat.

Note that there may be multiple seats or students in the same position at the beginning.

Example 1:

Input: seats = [3,1,5], students = [2,7,4]
Output: 4
Explanation: The students are moved as follows:
- The first student is moved from from position 2 to position 1 using 1 move.
- The second student is moved from from position 7 to position 5 using 2 moves.
- The third student is moved from from position 4 to position 3 using 1 move.
In total, 1 + 2 + 1 = 4 moves were used.


Example 2:

Input: seats = [4,1,5,9], students = [1,3,2,6]
Output: 7
Explanation: The students are moved as follows:
- The first student is not moved.
- The second student is moved from from position 3 to position 4 using 1 move.
- The third student is moved from from position 2 to position 5 using 3 moves.
- The fourth student is moved from from position 6 to position 9 using 3 moves.
In total, 0 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 7 moves were used.


Example 3:

Input: seats = [2,2,6,6], students = [1,3,2,6]
Output: 4
Explanation: The students are moved as follows:
- The first student is moved from from position 1 to position 2 using 1 move.
- The second student is moved from from position 3 to position 6 using 3 moves.
- The third student is not moved.
- The fourth student is not moved.
In total, 1 + 3 + 0 + 0 = 4 moves were used.


Constraints:

• n == seats.length == students.length
• 1 <= n <= 100
• 1 <= seats[i], students[j] <= 100

## Solution: Greedy

Sort both arrays, move students[i] to seats[i].

Time complexity: O(nlogn)
Space complexity: O(1)

## C++

triplet is an array of three integers. You are given a 2D integer array triplets, where triplets[i] = [ai, bi, ci] describes the ith triplet. You are also given an integer array target = [x, y, z] that describes the triplet you want to obtain.

To obtain target, you may apply the following operation on triplets any number of times (possibly zero):

• Choose two indices (0-indexedi and j (i != j) and update triplets[j] to become [max(ai, aj), max(bi, bj), max(ci, cj)].
• For example, if triplets[i] = [2, 5, 3] and triplets[j] = [1, 7, 5]triplets[j] will be updated to [max(2, 1), max(5, 7), max(3, 5)] = [2, 7, 5].

Return true if it is possible to obtain the target triplet [x, y, z] as an element of triplets, or false otherwise.

Example 1:

Input: triplets = [[2,5,3],[1,8,4],[1,7,5]], target = [2,7,5]
Output: true
Explanation: Perform the following operations:
- Choose the first and last triplets [[2,5,3],[1,8,4],[1,7,5]]. Update the last triplet to be [max(2,1), max(5,7), max(3,5)] = [2,7,5]. triplets = [[2,5,3],[1,8,4],[2,7,5]]
The target triplet [2,7,5] is now an element of triplets.


Example 2:

Input: triplets = [[1,3,4],[2,5,8]], target = [2,5,8]
Output: true
Explanation: The target triplet [2,5,8] is already an element of triplets.


Example 3:

Input: triplets = [[2,5,3],[2,3,4],[1,2,5],[5,2,3]], target = [5,5,5]
Output: true
Explanation: Perform the following operations:
- Choose the first and third triplets [[2,5,3],[2,3,4],[1,2,5],[5,2,3]]. Update the third triplet to be [max(2,1), max(5,2), max(3,5)] = [2,5,5]. triplets = [[2,5,3],[2,3,4],[2,5,5],[5,2,3]].
- Choose the third and fourth triplets [[2,5,3],[2,3,4],[2,5,5],[5,2,3]]. Update the fourth triplet to be [max(2,5), max(5,2), max(5,3)] = [5,5,5]. triplets = [[2,5,3],[2,3,4],[2,5,5],[5,5,5]].
The target triplet [5,5,5] is now an element of triplets.


Example 4:

Input: triplets = [[3,4,5],[4,5,6]], target = [3,2,5]
Output: false
Explanation: It is impossible to have [3,2,5] as an element because there is no 2 in any of the triplets.


Constraints:

• 1 <= triplets.length <= 105
• triplets[i].length == target.length == 3
• 1 <= ai, bi, ci, x, y, z <= 1000

## Solution: Greedy

Exclude those bad ones (whose values are greater than x, y, z), check the max value for each dimension or whether there is x, y, z for each dimension.

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(1)

## C++

You have n packages that you are trying to place in boxes, one package in each box. There are m suppliers that each produce boxes of different sizes (with infinite supply). A package can be placed in a box if the size of the package is less than or equal to the size of the box.

The package sizes are given as an integer array packages, where packages[i] is the size of the ith package. The suppliers are given as a 2D integer array boxes, where boxes[j] is an array of box sizes that the jth supplier produces.

You want to choose a single supplier and use boxes from them such that the total wasted space is minimized. For each package in a box, we define the space wasted to be size of the box - size of the package. The total wasted space is the sum of the space wasted in all the boxes.

• For example, if you have to fit packages with sizes [2,3,5] and the supplier offers boxes of sizes [4,8], you can fit the packages of size-2 and size-3 into two boxes of size-4 and the package with size-5 into a box of size-8. This would result in a waste of (4-2) + (4-3) + (8-5) = 6.

Return the minimum total wasted space by choosing the box supplier optimally, or -1 if it is impossible to fit all the packages inside boxes. Since the answer may be large, return it modulo 109 + 7.

Example 1:

Input: packages = [2,3,5], boxes = [[4,8],[2,8]]
Output: 6
Explanation: It is optimal to choose the first supplier, using two size-4 boxes and one size-8 box.
The total waste is (4-2) + (4-3) + (8-5) = 6.


Example 2:

Input: packages = [2,3,5], boxes = [[1,4],[2,3],[3,4]]
Output: -1
Explanation: There is no box that the package of size 5 can fit in.


Example 3:

Input: packages = [3,5,8,10,11,12], boxes = [[12],[11,9],[10,5,14]]
Output: 9
Explanation: It is optimal to choose the third supplier, using two size-5 boxes, two size-10 boxes, and two size-14 boxes.
The total waste is (5-3) + (5-5) + (10-8) + (10-10) + (14-11) + (14-12) = 9.


Constraints:

• n == packages.length
• m == boxes.length
• 1 <= n <= 105
• 1 <= m <= 105
• 1 <= packages[i] <= 105
• 1 <= boxes[j].length <= 105
• 1 <= boxes[j][k] <= 105
• sum(boxes[j].length) <= 105
• The elements in boxes[j] are distinct.

## Solution: Greedy + Binary Search

1. sort packages and boxes
2. for each box find all (unpacked) packages that are smaller or equal to itself.

Time complexity: O(nlogn) + O(mlogm) + O(mlogn)
Space complexity: O(1)

## C++

You are given a very large integer n, represented as a string,​​​​​​ and an integer digit x. The digits in n and the digit x are in the inclusive range [1, 9], and n may represent a negative number.

You want to maximize n‘s numerical value by inserting x anywhere in the decimal representation of n​​​​​​. You cannot insert x to the left of the negative sign.

• For example, if n = 73 and x = 6, it would be best to insert it between 7 and 3, making n = 763.
• If n = -55 and x = 2, it would be best to insert it before the first 5, making n = -255.

Return a string representing the maximum value of n​​​​​​ after the insertion.

Example 1:

Input: n = "99", x = 9
Output: "999"
Explanation: The result is the same regardless of where you insert 9.


Example 2:

Input: n = "-13", x = 2
Output: "-123"
Explanation: You can make n one of {-213, -123, -132}, and the largest of those three is -123.


Constraints:

• 1 <= n.length <= 105
• 1 <= x <= 9
• The digits in n​​​ are in the range [1, 9].
• n is a valid representation of an integer.
• In the case of a negative n,​​​​​​ it will begin with '-'.

## Solution: Greedy

Find the best position to insert x. For positive numbers, insert x to the first position i such that s[i] < x or s[i] > x for negatives.

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(1)

## C++

The pair sum of a pair (a,b) is equal to a + b. The maximum pair sum is the largest pair sum in a list of pairs.

• For example, if we have pairs (1,5)(2,3), and (4,4), the maximum pair sum would be max(1+5, 2+3, 4+4) = max(6, 5, 8) = 8.

Given an array nums of even length n, pair up the elements of nums into n / 2 pairs such that:

• Each element of nums is in exactly one pair, and
• The maximum pair sum is minimized.

Return the minimized maximum pair sum after optimally pairing up the elements.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [3,5,2,3]
Output: 7
Explanation: The elements can be paired up into pairs (3,3) and (5,2).
The maximum pair sum is max(3+3, 5+2) = max(6, 7) = 7.


Example 2:

Input: nums = [3,5,4,2,4,6]
Output: 8
Explanation: The elements can be paired up into pairs (3,5), (4,4), and (6,2).
The maximum pair sum is max(3+5, 4+4, 6+2) = max(8, 8, 8) = 8.


Constraints:

• n == nums.length
• 2 <= n <= 105
• n is even.
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 105

## Solution: Greedy

Sort the elements, pair nums[i] with nums[n – i – 1] and find the max pair.

Time complexity: O(nlogn) -> O(n) counting sort.
Space complexity: O(1)