# Posts tagged as “greedy”

You are given two strings word1 and word2. You want to construct a string merge in the following way: while either word1 or word2 are non-empty, choose one of the following options:

• If word1 is non-empty, append the first character in word1 to merge and delete it from word1.
• For example, if word1 = "abc" and merge = "dv", then after choosing this operation, word1 = "bc" and merge = "dva".
• If word2 is non-empty, append the first character in word2 to merge and delete it from word2.
• For example, if word2 = "abc" and merge = "", then after choosing this operation, word2 = "bc" and merge = "a".

Return the lexicographically largest merge you can construct.

A string a is lexicographically larger than a string b (of the same length) if in the first position where a and b differ, a has a character strictly larger than the corresponding character in b. For example, "abcd" is lexicographically larger than "abcc" because the first position they differ is at the fourth character, and d is greater than c.

Example 1:

Input: word1 = "cabaa", word2 = "bcaaa"
Output: "cbcabaaaaa"
Explanation: One way to get the lexicographically largest merge is:
- Take from word1: merge = "c", word1 = "abaa", word2 = "bcaaa"
- Take from word2: merge = "cb", word1 = "abaa", word2 = "caaa"
- Take from word2: merge = "cbc", word1 = "abaa", word2 = "aaa"
- Take from word1: merge = "cbca", word1 = "baa", word2 = "aaa"
- Take from word1: merge = "cbcab", word1 = "aa", word2 = "aaa"
- Append the remaining 5 a's from word1 and word2 at the end of merge.


Example 2:

Input: word1 = "abcabc", word2 = "abdcaba"
Output: "abdcabcabcaba"


Constraints:

• 1 <= word1.length, word2.length <= 3000
• word1 and word2 consist only of lowercase English letters.

## Solution: Greedy

Always take a single char from the largest word. (NOT just the current char).

E.g.
ans = “”, w1 = “cabba”, w2 = “bcaaa”
w1 > w2, take from w1
ans = “c”, w1 = “abba”, w2 = “bcaaa”
w1 < w2, take from w2
ans = “cb”, w1 = “abba”, w2 = “caaa”
w1 < w2, take from w2
ans = “cbc”, w1 = “abba”, w2 = “aaa”
w1 > w2, take from w1. Note: both start with “a”, but we need to compare the entire word.
ans = “cbca”, w1 = “bba”, w2 = “aaa”
w1 > w2, take from w1
ans = “cbcab”, w1 = “ba”, w2 = “aaa”

Time complexity: O(min(m,n)^2)
Space complexity: O(1)

## C++

You are playing a solitaire game with three piles of stones of sizes a​​​​​​, b,​​​​​​ and c​​​​​​ respectively. Each turn you choose two different non-empty piles, take one stone from each, and add 1 point to your score. The game stops when there are fewer than two non-empty piles (meaning there are no more available moves).

Given three integers a​​​​​, b,​​​​​ and c​​​​​, return the maximum score you can get.

Example 1:

Input: a = 2, b = 4, c = 6
Output: 6
Explanation: The starting state is (2, 4, 6). One optimal set of moves is:
- Take from 1st and 3rd piles, state is now (1, 4, 5)
- Take from 1st and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 4, 4)
- Take from 2nd and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 3, 3)
- Take from 2nd and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 2, 2)
- Take from 2nd and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 1, 1)
- Take from 2nd and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 0, 0)
There are fewer than two non-empty piles, so the game ends. Total: 6 points.


Example 2:

Input: a = 4, b = 4, c = 6
Output: 7
Explanation: The starting state is (4, 4, 6). One optimal set of moves is:
- Take from 1st and 2nd piles, state is now (3, 3, 6)
- Take from 1st and 3rd piles, state is now (2, 3, 5)
- Take from 1st and 3rd piles, state is now (1, 3, 4)
- Take from 1st and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 3, 3)
- Take from 2nd and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 2, 2)
- Take from 2nd and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 1, 1)
- Take from 2nd and 3rd piles, state is now (0, 0, 0)
There are fewer than two non-empty piles, so the game ends. Total: 7 points.


Example 3:

Input: a = 1, b = 8, c = 8
Output: 8
Explanation: One optimal set of moves is to take from the 2nd and 3rd piles for 8 turns until they are empty.
After that, there are fewer than two non-empty piles, so the game ends.


Constraints:

• 1 <= a, b, c <= 105

## Solution 1: Greedy

Take two stones (one each) from the largest two piles, until one is empty.

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

## Solution 2: Math

First, let’s assuming a <= b <= c.
There are two conditions:
1. a + b <= c, we can pair c with a first and then b. Total pairs is (a + b + (a + b)) / 2
2. a + b > c, we can pair c with a, b “evenly”, and then pair a with b, total pairs is (a + b + c) / 2

ans = (a + b + min(a + b, c)) / 2

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

## C++

Given a string s consisting only of characters 'a''b', and 'c'. You are asked to apply the following algorithm on the string any number of times:

1. Pick a non-empty prefix from the string s where all the characters in the prefix are equal.
2. Pick a non-empty suffix from the string s where all the characters in this suffix are equal.
3. The prefix and the suffix should not intersect at any index.
4. The characters from the prefix and suffix must be the same.
5. Delete both the prefix and the suffix.

Return the minimum length of s after performing the above operation any number of times (possibly zero times).

Example 1:

Input: s = "ca"
Output: 2
Explanation: You can't remove any characters, so the string stays as is.


Example 2:

Input: s = "cabaabac"
Output: 0
Explanation: An optimal sequence of operations is:
- Take prefix = "c" and suffix = "c" and remove them, s = "abaaba".
- Take prefix = "a" and suffix = "a" and remove them, s = "baab".
- Take prefix = "b" and suffix = "b" and remove them, s = "aa".
- Take prefix = "a" and suffix = "a" and remove them, s = "".

Example 3:

Input: s = "aabccabba"
Output: 3
Explanation: An optimal sequence of operations is:
- Take prefix = "aa" and suffix = "a" and remove them, s = "bccabb".
- Take prefix = "b" and suffix = "bb" and remove them, s = "cca".


Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length <= 105
• s only consists of characters 'a''b', and 'c'.

## Solution: Two Pointers + Greedy

Delete all the chars for each prefix and suffix pair.

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

## C++

You are given a string s and two integers x and y. You can perform two types of operations any number of times.

• Remove substring "ab" and gain x points.
• For example, when removing "ab" from "cabxbae" it becomes "cxbae".
• Remove substring "ba" and gain y points.
• For example, when removing "ba" from "cabxbae" it becomes "cabxe".

Return the maximum points you can gain after applying the above operations on s.

Example 1:

Input: s = "cdbcbbaaabab", x = 4, y = 5
Output: 19
Explanation:
- Remove the "ba" underlined in "cdbcbbaaabab". Now, s = "cdbcbbaaab" and 5 points are added to the score.
- Remove the "ab" underlined in "cdbcbbaaab". Now, s = "cdbcbbaa" and 4 points are added to the score.
- Remove the "ba" underlined in "cdbcbbaa". Now, s = "cdbcba" and 5 points are added to the score.
- Remove the "ba" underlined in "cdbcba". Now, s = "cdbc" and 5 points are added to the score.
Total score = 5 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 19.

Example 2:

Input: s = "aabbaaxybbaabb", x = 5, y = 4
Output: 20


Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length <= 105
• 1 <= x, y <= 104
• s consists of lowercase English letters.

## Solution: Greedy + Stack

Remove the pattern with the larger score first.

Using a stack to remove all occurrences of a pattern in place in O(n) Time.

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

## C++

You are assigned to put some amount of boxes onto one truck. You are given a 2D array boxTypes, where boxTypes[i] = [numberOfBoxesi, numberOfUnitsPerBoxi]:

• numberOfBoxesi is the number of boxes of type i.
• numberOfUnitsPerBoxiis the number of units in each box of the type i.

You are also given an integer truckSize, which is the maximum number of boxes that can be put on the truck. You can choose any boxes to put on the truck as long as the number of boxes does not exceed truckSize.

Return the maximum total number of units that can be put on the truck.

Example 1:

Input: boxTypes = [[1,3],[2,2],[3,1]], truckSize = 4
Output: 8
Explanation: There are:
- 1 box of the first type that contains 3 units.
- 2 boxes of the second type that contain 2 units each.
- 3 boxes of the third type that contain 1 unit each.
You can take all the boxes of the first and second types, and one box of the third type.
The total number of units will be = (1 * 3) + (2 * 2) + (1 * 1) = 8.


Example 2:

Input: boxTypes = [[5,10],[2,5],[4,7],[3,9]], truckSize = 10
Output: 91


Constraints:

• 1 <= boxTypes.length <= 1000
• 1 <= numberOfBoxesi, numberOfUnitsPerBoxi <= 1000
• 1 <= truckSize <= 106

## Solution: Greedy

Sort by unit in descending order.

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