Maximizing count of distinct numbers that produce a given sum 'k' - c

Question

I need help with this dynamic programming problem.
Given a positive integer k, find the maximum number of distinct positive integers that sum to k. For example, 6 = 1 + 2 + 3 so the answer would be 3, as opposed to 5 + 1 or 4 + 2 which would be 2.
The first thing I think of is that I have to find a subproblem. So to find the max sum for k, we need to find the max sum for the values less than k. So we have to iterate through the values 1 -> k and find the max sum for those values.
What confuses me is how to make a formula. We can define M(j) as the maximum number of distinct values that sum to j, but how do I actually write the formula for it?
Is my logic for what I have so far correct, and can someone explain how to work through this step by step?

Answer 1

No dynamic programming is need. Let's start with an example:
50 = 50
50 = 1 + 49
50 = 1 + 2 + 47 (three numbers)
50 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 44 (four numbers)
50 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 14 (nine numbers)
Nine numbers is as far as we can go. If we use ten numbers, the sum would be at least 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 10 = 55, which is greater than 50 - thus it is impossible.
Indeed, if we use exactly n distinct positive integers, then the lowest number with such a sum is 1+2+...+n = n(n+1)/2. By solving the quadratic, we have that M(k) is approximately sqrt(2k).
Thus the algorithm is to take the number k, subtract 1, 2, 3, etc. until we can't anymore, then decrement by 1. Algorithm in C:
int M(int k) {
int i;
for (i = 1; ; i++) {
if (k < i) return i - 1;
else k -= i;
}
}

Answer 2

The other answers correctly deduce that the problem essentially is this summation:
However this can actually be simplified to
In code this looks like : floor(sqrt(2.0 * k + 1.0/4) - 1.0/2)
The disadvantage of this answer is that it requires you to deal with floating point numbers.
Brian M. Scott (https://math.stackexchange.com/users/12042/brian-m-scott), Given a positive integer, find the maximum distinct positive integers that can form its sum, URL (version: 2012-03-22): https://math.stackexchange.com/q/123128

Answer 3

The smallest number that can be represented as the sum of i distinct positive integers is 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + i = i(i+1)/2, otherwise known as the i'th triangular number, T[i].
Let i be such that T[i] is the largest triangular number less than or equal to your k.
Then we can represent k as the sum of i different positive integers:
1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (i-1) + (i + k - T[i])
Note that the last term is greater than or equal to i (and therefore different from the other integers), since k >= T[i].
Also, it's not possible to represent k as the sum of i+1 different positive integers, since the smallest number that's the sum of i+1 different positive integers is T[i+1] > k because of how we chose i.
So your question is equivalent to finding the largest i such that T[i] <= k.
That's solved by this:
i = floor((-1 + sqrt(1 + 8k)) / 2)
[derivation here: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1417579/largest-triangular-number-less-than-a-given-natural-number ]
You could also write a simple program to iterate through triangular numbers until you find the first larger than k:
def uniq_sum_count(k):
i = 1
while i * (i+1) <= k * 2:
i += 1
return i - 1
for k in xrange(20):
print k, uniq_sum_count(k)

Answer 4

I think you just check if 1 + ... + n > k. If so, print n-1.
Because if you find the smallest n as 1 + ... + n > k, then 1 + ... + (n-1) <= k. so add the extra value, say E, to (n-1), then 1 + ... + (n-1+E) = k.
Hence n-1 is the maximum.
Note that : 1 + ... + n = n(n+1) / 2
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int k, n;
printf(">> ");
scanf("%d", &k);
for (n = 1; ; n++)
if (n * (n + 1) / 2 > k)
break;
printf("the maximum: %d\n", n-1);
}
Or you can make M(j).
int M(int j)
{
int n;
for (n = 1; ; n++)
if (n * (n + 1) / 2 > j)
return n-1; // return the maximum.
}

Answer 5

Well the problem might be solved without dynamic programming however i tried to look at it in dynamic programming way.
Tip: when you wanna solve a dynamic programming problem you should see when situation is "repetitive". Here, since from the viewpoint of the number k it does not matter if, for example, I subtract 1 first and then 3 or first 3 and then 1; I say that "let's subtract from it in ascending order".
Now, what is repeated? Ok, the idea is that I want to start with number k and subtract it from distinct elements until I get to zero. So, if I reach to a situation where the remaining number and the last distinct number that I have used are the same the situation is "repeated":
#include <stdio.h>
bool marked[][];
int memo[][];
int rec(int rem, int last_distinct){
if(marked[rem][last_distinct] == true) return memo[rem][last_distinct]; //don't compute it again
if(rem == 0) return 0; //success
if(rem > 0 && last > rem - 1) return -100000000000; //failure (minus infinity)
int ans = 0;
for(i = last_distinct + 1; i <= rem; i++){
int res = 1 + rec(rem - i, i); // I've just used one more distinct number
if(res > ans) ans = res;
}
marked[rem][last_distinct] = true;
memo[rem][last_distinct] = res;
return res;
}
int main(){
cout << rec(k, 0) << endl;
return 0;
}
The time complexity is O(k^3)

Answer 6

Though it isn't entirely clear what constraints there may be on how you arrive at your largest discrete series of numbers, but if you are able, passing a simple array to hold the discrete numbers, and keeping a running sum in your functions can simplify the process. For example, passing the array a long with your current j to the function and returning the number of elements that make up the sum within the array can be done with something like this:
int largest_discrete_sum (int *a, int j)
{
int n, sum = 0;
for (n = 1;; n++) {
a[n-1] = n, sum += n;
if (n * (n + 1) / 2 > j)
break;
}
a[sum - j - 1] = 0; /* zero the index holding excess */
return n;
}
Putting it together in a short test program would look like:
#include <stdio.h>
int largest_discrete_sum(int *a, int j);
int main (void) {
int i, idx = 0, v = 50;
int a[v];
idx = largest_discrete_sum (a, v);
printf ("\n largest_discrete_sum '%d'\n\n", v);
for (i = 0; i < idx; i++)
if (a[i])
printf (!i ? " %2d" : " +%2d", a[i]);
printf (" = %d\n\n", v);
return 0;
}
int largest_discrete_sum (int *a, int j)
{
int n, sum = 0;
for (n = 1;; n++) {
a[n-1] = n, sum += n;
if (n * (n + 1) / 2 > j)
break;
}
a[sum - j - 1] = 0; /* zero the index holding excess */
return n;
}
Example Use/Output
$ ./bin/largest_discrete_sum
largest_discrete_sum '50'
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 +10 = 50
I apologize if I missed a constraint on the discrete values selection somewhere, but approaching in this manner you are guaranteed to obtain the largest number of discrete values that will equal your sum. Let me know if you have any questions.