Posts tagged as “sort”

You are given an array of strings names, and an array heights that consists of distinct positive integers. Both arrays are of length n.

For each index inames[i] and heights[i] denote the name and height of the ith person.

Return names sorted in descending order by the people’s heights.

Example 1:

Input: names = ["Mary","John","Emma"], heights = [180,165,170]
Output: ["Mary","Emma","John"]
Explanation: Mary is the tallest, followed by Emma and John.


Example 2:

Input: names = ["Alice","Bob","Bob"], heights = [155,185,150]
Output: ["Bob","Alice","Bob"]
Explanation: The first Bob is the tallest, followed by Alice and the second Bob.


Constraints:

• n == names.length == heights.length
• 1 <= n <= 103
• 1 <= names[i].length <= 20
• 1 <= heights[i] <= 105
• names[i] consists of lower and upper case English letters.
• All the values of heights are distinct.

Solution: Zip and sort

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

C++

You are given a 0-indexed integer array players, where players[i] represents the ability of the ith player. You are also given a 0-indexed integer array trainers, where trainers[j] represents the training capacity of the jth trainer.

The ith player can match with the jth trainer if the player’s ability is less than or equal to the trainer’s training capacity. Additionally, the ith player can be matched with at most one trainer, and the jth trainer can be matched with at most one player.

Return the maximum number of matchings between players and trainers that satisfy these conditions.

Example 1:

Input: players = [4,7,9], trainers = [8,2,5,8]
Output: 2
Explanation:
One of the ways we can form two matchings is as follows:
- players[0] can be matched with trainers[0] since 4 <= 8.
- players[1] can be matched with trainers[3] since 7 <= 8.
It can be proven that 2 is the maximum number of matchings that can be formed.


Example 2:

Input: players = [1,1,1], trainers = [10]
Output: 1
Explanation:
The trainer can be matched with any of the 3 players.
Each player can only be matched with one trainer, so the maximum answer is 1.


Constraints:

• 1 <= players.length, trainers.length <= 105
• 1 <= players[i], trainers[j] <= 109

Solution: Sort + Two Pointers

Sort players and trainers.

Loop through players, skip trainers until he/she can match the current players.

Time complexity: O(nlogn + mlogm + n + m)
Space complexity: O(1)

C++

You are given an integer mass, which represents the original mass of a planet. You are further given an integer array asteroids, where asteroids[i] is the mass of the ith asteroid.

You can arrange for the planet to collide with the asteroids in any arbitrary order. If the mass of the planet is greater than or equal to the mass of the asteroid, the asteroid is destroyed and the planet gains the mass of the asteroid. Otherwise, the planet is destroyed.

Return true if all asteroids can be destroyed. Otherwise, return false.

Example 1:

Input: mass = 10, asteroids = [3,9,19,5,21]
Output: true
Explanation: One way to order the asteroids is [9,19,5,3,21]:
- The planet collides with the asteroid with a mass of 9. New planet mass: 10 + 9 = 19
- The planet collides with the asteroid with a mass of 19. New planet mass: 19 + 19 = 38
- The planet collides with the asteroid with a mass of 5. New planet mass: 38 + 5 = 43
- The planet collides with the asteroid with a mass of 3. New planet mass: 43 + 3 = 46
- The planet collides with the asteroid with a mass of 21. New planet mass: 46 + 21 = 67
All asteroids are destroyed.


Example 2:

Input: mass = 5, asteroids = [4,9,23,4]
Output: false
Explanation:
The planet cannot ever gain enough mass to destroy the asteroid with a mass of 23.
After the planet destroys the other asteroids, it will have a mass of 5 + 4 + 9 + 4 = 22.
This is less than 23, so a collision would not destroy the last asteroid.

Constraints:

• 1 <= mass <= 105
• 1 <= asteroids.length <= 105
• 1 <= asteroids[i] <= 105

Solution: Greedy

Sort asteroids by weight. Note, mass can be very big (105*105), for C++/Java, use long instead of int.

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

C++

You are given an array of strings nums and an integer k. Each string in nums represents an integer without leading zeros.

Return the string that represents the kth largest integer in nums.

Note: Duplicate numbers should be counted distinctly. For example, if nums is ["1","2","2"]"2" is the first largest integer, "2" is the second-largest integer, and "1" is the third-largest integer.

Example 1:

Input: nums = ["3","6","7","10"], k = 4
Output: "3"
Explanation:
The numbers in nums sorted in non-decreasing order are ["3","6","7","10"].
The 4th largest integer in nums is "3".


Example 2:

Input: nums = ["2","21","12","1"], k = 3
Output: "2"
Explanation:
The numbers in nums sorted in non-decreasing order are ["1","2","12","21"].
The 3rd largest integer in nums is "2".


Example 3:

Input: nums = ["0","0"], k = 2
Output: "0"
Explanation:
The numbers in nums sorted in non-decreasing order are ["0","0"].
The 2nd largest integer in nums is "0".


Constraints:

• 1 <= k <= nums.length <= 104
• 1 <= nums[i].length <= 100
• nums[i] consists of only digits.
• nums[i] will not have any leading zeros.

Solution: nth_element / quick selection

Use std::nth_element to find the k-th largest element. When comparing two strings, compare their lengths first and compare their content if they have the same length.

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

C++

You are given a 0-indexed integer array nums, where nums[i] represents the score of the ith student. You are also given an integer k.

Pick the scores of any k students from the array so that the difference between the highest and the lowest of the k scores is minimized.

Return the minimum possible difference.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [90], k = 1
Output: 0
Explanation: There is one way to pick score(s) of one student:
- [90]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 90 - 90 = 0.
The minimum possible difference is 0.


Example 2:

Input: nums = [9,4,1,7], k = 2
Output: 2
Explanation: There are six ways to pick score(s) of two students:
- [9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 9 - 4 = 5.
- [9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 9 - 1 = 8.
- [9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 9 - 7 = 2.
- [9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 4 - 1 = 3.
- [9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 7 - 4 = 3.
- [9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 7 - 1 = 6.
The minimum possible difference is 2.

Constraints:

• 1 <= k <= nums.length <= 1000
• 0 <= nums[i] <= 105

Solution: Sliding Window

Sort the array, to minimize the difference, k numbers must be consecutive (i.e, from a subarray). We use a sliding window size of k and try all possible subarrays.
Ans = min{(nums[k – 1] – nums[0]), (nums[k] – nums[1]), … (nums[n – 1] – nums[n – k])}

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