Creating a Method to find Max Difference in an Array - arrays

I have to create a function that will look at an array of 5 numbers and find the difference between adjacent numbers and from them differences then return the largest difference.
Honestly I'm not sure where to start I know using loops will be my best bet but I'm unsure.
Arrays
int [] numbers = {12, 8, 34, 10, 59};
int [] numbers2 = {-50, 100, 20, -40};
So for the first one the maximum difference would be 49 (10 to 59)
Second one the maximum difference would be 150 (-50 to 100)
Remember it has to be between numbers next to each other.
Thanks in advance!

Well, the question seems trivial, if you know how to loop through an array.
For example (in C#)
int[] numbers = {12,8,34,10,59};
int maxDiff = Int32.MinValue;
for(int i = 0;i<numbers.Length-2;i++)
{
var diff = Math.Abs(numbers[i+1]-numbers[i]);
if( diff> maxDiff)
{
maxDiff = diff;
}
}
Are you missing to tell us something important, like the array size, that is challenging you?

Related

Speed efficiency in rebuilding an array

If I have two arrays of ints e.g. [100, 50, 32, 23] and [40, 30, 32, 125] and a number 50 then the numbers in the first array that is greater than this number should be removed along with its corresponding index pair in the 2nd array.
If i did this manually for every element value and rebuilding the int array each time as I go along over 10,000 elements wouldn't this be incredibly inefficient/slow?
input 50:
new array changes:
[50, 32, 23]
[30, 32, 125]
pseudo code so far:
for each value in array one that is greater than input, remove it and rebuild both arrays, continue
Not sure how I can learn where or what direction I should go in finding a more efficient/faster way of doing this.
Here is an O(n) implementation. It goes through the arrays once to find out how many elements will be retained, creates new arrays too hold the result, then copies the integers that should lower or equal to the limit into the new arrays. I assume the two arrays are held together in an int[][] because that is the most efficient way to pass them around.
public static int[][] removeGreaterThan(int[][] arrays, int limit) {
int retained = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < arrays[0].length; i++) {
if (arrays[0][i] <= limit) retained++;
}
int[][] result = new int[][] {new int[retained], new int[retained]};
int j = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < arrays[0].length; i++) {
if (arrays[0][i] <= limit) {
result[0][j] = arrays[0][i];
result[1][j] = arrays[1][i];
j++;
}
}
return result;
}
Use it like this.
int[][] arrays = new int[][] {{100, 50, 32, 23}, {40, 30, 32, 125}};
int[][] result = removeGreaterThan(arrays, 50);
// you can check to make sure the values are correct
System.out.println(Arrays.asList(result[0]);
System.out.println(Arrays.asList(result[1]);
I would create a SortedMap of your 2 arrays and then extract the pairs with a key smaller than or equal to your input parameter:
Suppose your arrays are like this:
int[] array_1;
int[] array_2;
Convert these arrays into a map:
NavigableMap<Integer, Integer> my_map = new TreeMap();
int index;
for (index = 0; index < array_1.length; index++)
my_map.put(array_1[index], array_2[index]);
Now get all pairs with a key value not greater than the one you specify:
NavigableMap<Integer, Integer> result;
result = my_map.headMap(50, true);
Convert result into new arrays:
array_1 = new int[result.size()];
array_2 = new int[array_1.length];
Iterator<Integer> it = result.keySet().iterator();
index = 0;
Integer key;
while (it.hasNext())
{
key = it.next();
array_1[index] = key;
array_2[index] = result.get(key);
index++;
}
Of course, the final result would be sorted. Not sure if that's a problem.
So, your result would be [23, 32, 50] [125, 32, 30].
Furthermore, it supposes that the keys (the elements in the first array) are unique.
One way to improve on your pseudocode is:
for each iteration
find indexes of first array which are greater than the number.
store indexes in a list.
remove all the elements of the first array using index list. // I can tell you more here but you should give it a try.
remove all the elements of the second array.

Codility: MaxZeroProduct - complexity issues

My solution scored 100% correctness, but 0% Performance.
I just can't figure out how to minimize time complexity.
Problem:
Write a function:
int solution(int A[], int N);
that, given an array of N positive integers, returns the maximum number of trailing zeros of the number obtained by multiplying three different elements from the array. Numbers are considered different if they are at different positions in the array.
For example, given A = [7, 15, 6, 20, 5, 10], the function should return 3 (you can obtain three trailing zeros by taking the product of numbers 15, 20 and 10 or 20, 5 and 10).
For another example, given A = [25, 10, 25, 10, 32], the function should return 4 (you can obtain four trailing zeros by taking the product of numbers 25, 25 and 32).
Assume that:
N is an integer within the range [3..100,000];
each element of array A is an integer within the range [1..1,000,000,000].
Complexity:
expected worst-case time complexity is O(N*log(max(A)));
expected worst-case space complexity is O(N) (not counting the storage required for input arguments).
Solution:
the idea:
factorize each element into pairs of 5's and 2's
sum each 3 pairs into one pair - this costs O(N^3)
find the pair who's minimum coordinate value is the biggest
return that minimun coordinate value
the code:
int solution(int A[], int N) {
int fives = 0, twos = 0, max_zeros = 0;
int(*factors)[2] = calloc(N, sizeof(int[2])); //each item (x,y) represents the amount of 5's and 2's of the corresponding item in A
for (int i = 0; i< N; i++) {
factorize(A[i], &fives, &twos);
factors[i][0] = fives;
factors[i][1] = twos;
}
//O(N^3)
for (int i = 0; i<N; i++) {
for (int j = i + 1; j<N; j++) {
for (int k = j + 1; k<N; k++) {
int x = factors[i][0] + factors[j][0] + factors[k][0];
int y = factors[i][1] + factors[j][1] + factors[k][1];
max_zeros = max(max_zeros, min(x, y));
}
}
}
return max_zeros;
}
void factorize(int val, int* fives, int* twos) {
int tmp = val;
*fives = 0, *twos = 0;
if (val == 0) return;
while (val % 5 == 0) { //factors of 5
val /= 5;
(*fives)++;
}
while (val % 2 == 0) { //factors of 2
val /= 2;
(*twos)++;
}
}
I can't figure out how else i can iterate over the N-sized array in order to find the optimal 3 items in time O(N*log(max(A))).
Since 2^30 > 1e9 and 5^13 > 1e9, there's a limit of 30 * 13 = 390 different pairs of factors of 2 and 5 in the array, no matter how large the array. This is an upper bound (the actual number is 213).
Discard all but three representatives from the array for each pair, and then your O(N^3) algorithm is probably fast enough.
If it's still not fast enough, you can continue by applying dynamic programming, computing P[i,j], the largest product of factors of 2s and 5s of pairs of elements with index <=i of the form x * 2^y * 5^y+j (where x is divisible by neither 2 nor 5). This table can then be used in a second dynamic programming pass to find the product of three numbers with the most 0's.
In real world I don't like such meta-thinking, but still, we are faced some artificial problem with some artificial restrictions...
Since space complexity is O(N), we can't afford dynamic programming based on initial input. We can't even make a map of N*factors. Well, we can afford map of N*2, anyway, but that's mostly all we can.
Since time complexity is O(Nlog(max(A))), we can allow ourselves to factorize items and do some simple one-way reduction. Probably we can sort items with count sort - it's a bit more like Nlog^2(max(A)) for 2-index sorting, but big O will even it out.
If my spider sense is right, we should simply pick something out of this counts array and polish it with 1-run through array. Something like best count for 2, then best for 5, and then we can enumerate the rest of elements finding best overal product. It's just heuristic, but dimentions don't lie!
Just my 2 cents

Can't add all the numbers in my Array togheter

I'm going to sum all the numbers in my Array.
It worked when i had fewer numbers like (12,8,3) etc but now the Array just seems to come back again and again because of the for(var i).
I don't know any other ways to do this and i would appriciate if if i got any help.
var tall:Array = new Array(34,53,2,3,34,26,26,85,3,4,98,2,12);
for(var i:int = 0;i<tall.length;i++)
{
trace(tall[i])
sum = sum + tall[i];
}
var sum:int = 0;
for each(var nummer:int in tall)
{
sum = sum + tall;
trace(tall);
}
trace("summen er " + sum);
Your code is generally fine, just about the second part where you should add the nummer to your sum ( not the array itself ), and of course, to get the sum of all your array's values, you need only one for loop.
About the declaration of the sum var, you can do it like what you did without problem because
... you can read or write to a variable before it is declared, as long as it is declared before the function ends. This is because of a technique called hoisting , which means that the compiler moves all variable declarations to the top of the function.
For more about that, take a look on the 5th paragraph of this topic.
But it's better to start by declaring all your variables before use them to get a more organised code an to avoid that you forget to declare some of them later.
So your code can be like this :
vars declaration:
var tall:Array = [34, 53, 2, 3, 34, 26, 26, 85, 3, 4, 98, 2, 12];
var sum:int = 0;
using a for loop :
for(var i:int = 0; i< tall.length; i++)
{
sum = sum + tall[i];
}
using a for each loop :
for each(var nummer:int in tall)
{
sum = sum + nummer;
}
and for both loops, sum is :
trace(sum); // gives : 382
For more, you can take a look on :
Learning ActionScript 3.
ActionScript 3 Variables.
ActionScript 3 Arrays.
ActionScript 3 Loops.
Hope that can help.

Calculate all possibilities to get N using values from a given set [duplicate]

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Algorithm to find elements best fitting in a particular amount
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So here is the problem:
Given input = [100 80 66 25 4 2 1], I need to find the best combination to give me 50.
Looking at this, the best would be 25+25 = 50, so I need 2 elements from the array.
Other combinations include 25+4+4+4+4+4+4+1 and 25+4+4+4+4+4+2+2+1.. etc etc
I need to find all the possibilities which gives me the sum on a value I want.
EDIT: As well as the best possibility (one with least number of terms)
Here is what I have done thus far:
First build a new array (simple for loop which cycles through all elements and stores in a new temp array), check for all elements higher than my array (so for input 50, the elements 100,80,66 are higher, so discard them and then my new array is [25 4 2 1]). Then, from this, I need to check combinations.
The first thing I do is a simple if statement checking if any array elements EXACTLY match the number I want. So if I want 50, I check if 50 is in the array, if not, I need to find combinations.
My problem is, I'm not entirely sure how to find every single combination. I have been struggling trying to come up with an algorithm for a while but I always just end up getting stumped.
Any help/tips would be much appreciated.
PS - we can assume the array is always sorted in order from LARGEST to SMALLEST value.
This is the kind of problem that dynamic programming is meant to solve.
Create an array with with indices, 1 to 50. Set each entry to -1. For each element that is in your input array, set that element in the array to 0. Then, for each integer n = 2 to 50, find all possible ways to sum to n. The number of sums required is the minimum of the two addends plus 1. At the end, get the element at index 50.
Edit: Due to a misinterpretation of the question, I first answered with an efficient way to calculate the number of possibilities (instead of the possibilities themself) to get N using values from a given set. That solution can be found at the bottom of this post as a reference for other people, but first I'll give a proper answer to your questions.
Generate all possibilities, count them and give the shortest one
When generating a solution, you consider each element from the input array and ask yourself "should I use this in my solution or not?". Since we don't know the answer until after the calculation, we'll just have to try out both using it and not using it, as can be seen in the recursion step in the code below.
Now, to avoid duplicates and misses, we need to be a bit careful with the parameters for the recursive call. If we use the current element, we should also allow it to be used in the next step, because the element may be used as many times as possible. Therefore, the first parameter in this recursive call is i. However, if we decide to not use the element, we should not allow it to be used in the next step, because that would be a duplicate of the current step. Therefore, the first parameter in this recursive call is i+1.
I added an optional bound (from "branch and bound") to the algorithm, that will stop expanding the current partial solution if it is known that this solution will never be shorter then the shortest solution found so far.
package otherproblems;
import java.util.Deque;
import java.util.LinkedList;
public class GeneratePossibilities
{
// Input
private static int n = 50;
// If the input array is sorted ascending, the shortest solution is
// likely to be found somewhere at the end.
// If the input array is sorted descending, the shortest solution is
// likely to be found somewhere in the beginning.
private static int[] input = {100, 80, 66, 25, 4, 2, 1};
// Shortest possibility
private static Deque<Integer> shortest;
// Number of possibilities
private static int numberOfPossibilities;
public static void main(String[] args)
{
calculate(0, n, new LinkedList<Integer>());
System.out.println("\nAbove you can see all " + numberOfPossibilities +
" possible solutions,\nbut this one's the shortest: " + shortest);
}
public static void calculate(int i, int left, Deque<Integer> partialSolution)
{
// If there's nothing left, we reached our target
if (left == 0)
{
System.out.println(partialSolution);
if (shortest == null || partialSolution.size() < shortest.size())
shortest = new LinkedList<Integer>(partialSolution);
numberOfPossibilities++;
return;
}
// If we overshot our target, by definition we didn't reach it
// Note that this could also be checked before making the
// recursive call, but IMHO this gives a cleaner recursion step.
if (left < 0)
return;
// If there are no values remaining, we didn't reach our target
if (i == input.length)
return;
// Uncomment the next two lines if you don't want to keep generating
// possibilities when you know it can never be a better solution then
// the one you have now.
// if (shortest != null && partialSolution.size() >= shortest.size())
// return;
// Pick value i. Note that we are allowed to pick it again,
// so the argument to calculate(...) is i, not i+1.
partialSolution.addLast(input[i]);
calculate(i, left-input[i], partialSolution);
// Don't pick value i. Note that we are not allowed to pick it after
// all, so the argument to calculate(...) is i+1, not i.
partialSolution.removeLast();
calculate(i+1, left, partialSolution);
}
}
Calculate the number of possibilities efficiently
This is a nice example of dynamic programming. What you need to do is figure out how many possibilities there are to form the number x, using value y as the last addition and using only values smaller than or equal to y. This gives you a recursive formula that you can easily translate to a solution using dynamic programming. I'm not quite sure how to write down the mathematics here, but since you weren't interested in them anyway, here's the code to solve your question :)
import java.util.Arrays;
public class Possibilities
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// Input
int[] input = {100, 80, 66, 25, 4, 2, 1};
int n = 50;
// Prepare input
Arrays.sort(input);
// Allocate storage space
long[][] m = new long[n+1][input.length];
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < input.length; j++)
{
// input[j] cannot be the last value used to compose i
if (i < input[j])
m[i][j] = 0;
// If input[j] is the last value used to compose i,
// it must be the only value used in the composition.
else if (i == input[j])
m[i][j] = 1;
// If input[j] is the last value used to compose i,
// we need to know the number of possibilities in which
// i - input[j] can be composed, which is the sum of all
// entries in column m[i-input[j]].
// However, to avoid counting duplicates, we only take
// combinations that are composed of values equal or smaller
// to input[j].
else
for (int k = 0; k <= j; k++)
m[i][j] += m[i-input[j]][k];
}
// Nice output of intermediate values:
int digits = 3;
System.out.printf(" %"+digits+"s", "");
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++)
System.out.printf(" %"+digits+"d", i);
System.out.println();
for (int j = 0; j < input.length; j++)
{
System.out.printf(" %"+digits+"d", input[j]);
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++)
System.out.printf(" %"+digits+"d", m[i][j]);
System.out.println();
}
// Answer:
long answer = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < input.length; i++)
answer += m[n][i];
System.out.println("\nThe number of possibilities to form "+n+
" using the numbers "+Arrays.toString(input)+" is "+answer);
}
}
This is the integer knapsack problem, which is one your most common NP-complete problems out there; if you are into algorithm design/study check those out. To find the best I think you have no choice but to compute them all and keep the smallest one.
For the correct solution there is a recursive algorithm that is pretty simple to put together.
import org.apache.commons.lang.ArrayUtils;
import java.util.*;
public class Stuff {
private final int target;
private final int[] steps;
public Stuff(int N, int[] steps) {
this.target = N;
this.steps = Arrays.copyOf(steps, steps.length);
Arrays.sort(this.steps);
ArrayUtils.reverse(this.steps);
this.memoize = new HashMap<Integer, List<Integer>>(N);
}
public List<Integer> solve() {
return solveForN(target);
}
private List<Integer> solveForN(int N) {
if (N == 0) {
return new ArrayList<Integer>();
} else if (N > 0) {
List<Integer> temp, min = null;
for (int i = 0; i < steps.length; i++) {
temp = solveForN(N - steps[i]);
if (temp != null) {
temp.add(steps[i]);
if (min == null || min.size() > temp.size()) {
min = temp;
}
}
}
return min;
} else {
return null;
}
}
}
It is based off the fact that to "get to N" you to have come from N - steps[0], or N - steps1, ...
Thus you start from your target total N and subtract one of the possible steps, and do it again until you are at 0 (return a List to specify that this is a valid path) or below (return null so that you cannot return an invalid path).
The complexity of this correct solution is exponential! Which is REALLY bad! Something like O(k^M) where M is the size of the steps array and k a constant.
To get a solution to this problem in less time than that you will have to use a heuristic (approximation) and you will always have a certain probability to have the wrong answer.
You can make your own implementation faster by memorizing the shortest combination seen so far for all targets (so you do not need to recompute recur(N, _, steps) if you already did). This approach is called Dynamic Programming. I will let you do that on your own (very fun stuff and really not that complicated).
Constraints of this solution : You will only find the solution if you guarantee that the input array (steps) is sorted in descending order and that you go through it in that order.
Here is a link to the general Knapsack problem if you also want to look approximation solutions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem
You need to solve each sub-problem and store the solution. For example:
1 can only be 1. 2 can be 2 or 1+1. 4 can be 4 or 2+2 or 2+1+1 or 1+1+1+1. So you take each sub-solution and store it, so when you see 25=4+4+4+4+4+4+1, you already know that each 4 can also be represented as one of the 3 combinations.
Then you have to sort the digits and check to avoid duplicate patterns since, for example, (2+2)+(2+2)+(2+2)+(1+1+1+1)+(1+1+1+1)+(1+1+1+1) == (2+1+1)+(2+1+1)+(2+1+1)+(2+1+1)+(2+1+1)+(2+1+1). Six 2's and twelve 1's in both cases.
Does that make sense?
Recursion should be the easiest way to solve this (Assuming you really want to find all the solutions to the problem). The nice thing about this approach is, if you want to just find the shortest solution, you can add a check on the recursion and find just that, saving time and space :)
Assuming an element i of your array is part of the solution, you can solve the subproblem of finding the elements that sums to n-i. If we add an ordering to our solution, for example the numbers in the sum must be from the greater to the smallest, we have a way to find unique solutions.
This is a recursive solution in C#, it should be easy to translate it in java.
public static void RecursiveSum(int n, int index, List<int> lst, List<int> solution)
{
for (int i = index; i < lst.Count; i++)
{
if (n == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine("");
foreach (int j in solution)
{
Console.Write(j + " ");
}
}
if (n - lst[i] >= 0)
{
List<int> tmp = new List<int>(solution);
tmp.Add(lst[i]);
RecursiveSum(n - lst[i], i, lst, tmp);
}
}
}
You call it with
RecursiveSum(N,0,list,new List<int>());
where N is the sum you are looking for, 0 shouldn't be changed, list is your list of allowed numbers, and the last parameter shouldn't be changed either.
The problem you pose is interesting but very complex. I'd approach this by using something like OptaPlanner(formerly Drools Planner). It's difficult to describe a full solution to this problem without spending significant time, but with optaplanner you can also get "closest fit" type answers and can have incremental "moves" that would make solving your problem more efficient. Good luck.
This is a solution in python: Ideone link
# Start of tsum function
def tsum(currentSum,total,input,record,n):
if total == N :
for i in range(0,n):
if record[i]:
print input[i]
i = i+1
for i in range(i,n):
if record[i]:
print input[i]
print ""
return
i=currentSum
for i in range(i,n):
if total+input[i]>sum :
continue
if i>0 and input[i]==input[i-1] and not record[i-1] :
continue
record[i]=1
tsum(i+1,total+input[i],input,record,l)
record[i]=0
# end of function
# Below portion will be main() in Java
record = []
N = 5
input = [3, 2, 2, 1, 1]
temp = list(set(input))
newlist = input
for i in range(0, len(list(set(input)))):
val = N/temp[i]
for j in range(0, val-input.count(temp[i])):
newlist.append(temp[i])
# above logic was to create a newlist/input i.e [3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]
# This new list contains the maximum number of elements <= N
# for e.g appended three 1's as sum of new three 1's + existing two 1's <= N(5) where as
# did not append another 2 as 2+2+2 > N(5) or 3 as 3+3 > N(5)
l = len(input)
for i in range(0,l):
record.append(0)
print "all possibilities to get N using values from a given set:"
tsum(0,0,input,record,l)
OUTPUT: for set [3, 2, 2, 1, 1] taking small set and small N for demo purpose. But works well for higher N value as well.
For N = 5
all possibilities to get N using values from a given set:
3
2
3
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
For N = 3
all possibilities to get N using values from a given set:
3
2
1
1
1
1
Isn't this just a search problem? If so, just search breadth-first.
abstract class Numbers {
abstract int total();
public static Numbers breadthFirst(int[] numbers, int total) {
List<Numbers> stack = new LinkedList<Numbers>();
if (total == 0) { return new Empty(); }
stack.add(new Empty());
while (!stack.isEmpty()) {
Numbers nums = stack.remove(0);
for (int i : numbers) {
if (i > 0 && total - nums.total() >= i) {
Numbers more = new SomeNumbers(i, nums);
if (more.total() == total) { return more; }
stack.add(more);
}
}
}
return null; // No answer.
}
}
class Empty extends Numbers {
int total() { return 0; }
public String toString() { return "empty"; }
}
class SomeNumbers extends Numbers {
final int total;
final Numbers prev;
SomeNumbers(int n, Numbers prev) {
this.total = n + prev.total();
this.prev = prev;
}
int total() { return total; }
public String toString() {
if (prev.getClass() == Empty.class) { return "" + total; }
return prev + "," + (total - prev.total());
}
}
What about using the greedy algorithm n times (n is the number of elements in your array), each time popping the largest element off the list. E.g. (in some random pseudo-code language):
array = [70 30 25 4 2 1]
value = 50
sort(array, descending)
solutions = [] // array of arrays
while length of array is non-zero:
tmpValue = value
thisSolution = []
for each i in array:
while tmpValue >= i:
tmpValue -= i
thisSolution.append(i)
solutions.append(thisSolution)
array.pop_first() // remove the largest entry from the array
If run with the set [70 30 25 4 2 1] and 50, it should give you a solutions array like this:
[[30 4 4 4 4 4]
[30 4 4 4 4 4]
[25 25]
[4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 2]
[2 ... ]
[1 ... ]]
Then simply pick the element from the solutions array with the smallest length.
Update: The comment is correct that this does not generate the correct answer in all cases. The reason is that greedy isn't always right. The following recursive algorithm should always work:
array = [70, 30, 25, 4, 3, 1]
def findSmallest(value, array):
minSolution = []
tmpArray = list(array)
while len(tmpArray):
elem = tmpArray.pop(0)
tmpValue = value
cnt = 0
while tmpValue >= elem:
cnt += 1
tmpValue -= elem
subSolution = findSmallest(tmpValue, tmpArray)
if tmpValue == 0 or subSolution:
if not minSolution or len(subSolution) + cnt < len(minSolution):
minSolution = subSolution + [elem] * cnt
return minSolution
print findSmallest(10, array)
print findSmallest(50, array)
print findSmallest(49, array)
print findSmallest(55, array)
Prints:
[3, 3, 4]
[25, 25]
[3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 30]
[30, 25]
The invariant is that the function returns either the smallest set for the value passed in, or an empty set. It can then be used recursively with all possible values of the previous numbers in the list. Note that this is O(n!) in complexity, so it's going to be slow for large values. Also note that there are numerous optimization potentials here.
I made a small program to help with one solution. Personally, I believe the best would be a deterministic mathematical solution, but right now I lack the caffeine to even think on how to implement it. =)
Instead, I went with a SAR approach. Stop and Reverse is a technique used on stock trading (http://daytrading.about.com/od/stou/g/SAR.htm), and is heavily used to calculate optimal curves with a minimal of inference. The Wikipedia entry for parabolical SAR goes like this:
'The Parabolic SAR is calculated almost independently for each trend
in the price. When the price is in an uptrend, the SAR emerges below
the price and converges upwards towards it. Similarly, on a
downtrend, the SAR emerges above the price and converges
downwards.'
I adapted it to your problem. I start with a random value from your series. Then the code enters a finite number of iterations.
I pick another random value from the series stack.
If the new value plus the stack sum is inferior to the target, then the value is added; if superior, then decreased.
I can go on for as much as I want until I satisfy the condition (stack sum = target), or abort if the cycle can't find a valid solution.
If successful, I record the stack and the number of iterations. Then I redo everything.
An EXTREMELY crude code follows. Please forgive the hastiness. Oh, and It's in C#. =)
Again, It does not guarantee that you'll obtain the optimal path; it's a brute force approach. It can be refined; detect if there's a perfect match for a target hit, for example.
public static class SAR
{
//I'm considering Optimal as the smallest signature (number of members).
// Once set, all future signatures must be same or smaller.
private static Random _seed = new Random();
private static List<int> _domain = new List<int>() { 100, 80, 66, 24, 4, 2, 1 };
public static void SetDomain(string domain)
{
_domain = domain.Split(',').ToList<string>().ConvertAll<int>(a => Convert.ToInt32(a));
_domain.Sort();
}
public static void FindOptimalSAR(int value)
{
// I'll skip some obvious tests. For example:
// If there is no odd number in domain, then
// it's impossible to find a path to an odd
// value.
//Determining a max path run. If the count goes
// over this, it's useless to continue.
int _maxCycle = 10;
//Determining a maximum number of runs.
int _maxRun = 1000000;
int _run = 0;
int _domainCount = _domain.Count;
List<int> _currentOptimalSig = new List<int>();
List<String> _currentOptimalOps = new List<string>();
do
{
List<int> currSig = new List<int>();
List<string> currOps = new List<string>();
int _cycle = 0;
int _cycleTot = 0;
bool _OptimalFound = false;
do
{
int _cursor = _seed.Next(_domainCount);
currSig.Add(_cursor);
if (_cycleTot < value)
{
currOps.Add("+");
_cycleTot += _domain[_cursor];
}
else
{
// Your situation doesn't allow for negative
// numbers. Otherwise, just enable the two following lines.
// currOps.Add("-");
// _cycleTot -= _domain[_cursor];
}
if (_cycleTot == value)
{
_OptimalFound = true;
break;
}
_cycle++;
} while (_cycle < _maxCycle);
if (_OptimalFound)
{
_maxCycle = _cycle;
_currentOptimalOps = currOps;
_currentOptimalSig = currSig;
Console.Write("Optimal found: ");
for (int i = 0; i < currSig.Count; i++)
{
Console.Write(currOps[i]);
Console.Write(_domain[currSig[i]]);
}
Console.WriteLine(".");
}
_run++;
} while (_run < _maxRun);
}
}
And this is the caller:
String _Domain = "100, 80, 66, 25, 4, 2, 1";
SAR.SetDomain(_Domain);
Console.WriteLine("SAR for Domain {" + _Domain + "}");
do
{
Console.Write("Input target value: ");
int _parm = (Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine()));
SAR.FindOptimalSAR(_parm);
Console.WriteLine("Done.");
} while (true);
This is my result after 100k iterations for a few targets, given a slightly modified series (I switched 25 for 24 for testing purposes):
SAR for Domain {100, 80, 66, 24, 4, 2, 1}
Input target value: 50
Optimal found: +24+24+2.
Done.
Input target value: 29
Optimal found: +4+1+24.
Done.
Input target value: 75
Optimal found: +2+2+1+66+4.
Optimal found: +4+66+4+1.
Done.
Now with your original series:
SAR for Domain {100, 80, 66, 25, 4, 2, 1}
Input target value: 50
Optimal found: +25+25.
Done.
Input target value: 75
Optimal found: +25+25+25.
Done.
Input target value: 512
Optimal found: +80+80+66+100+1+80+25+80.
Optimal found: +66+100+80+100+100+66.
Done.
Input target value: 1024
Optimal found: +100+1+80+80+100+2+100+2+2+2+25+2+100+66+25+66+100+80+25+66.
Optimal found: +4+25+100+80+100+1+80+1+100+4+2+1+100+1+100+100+100+25+100.
Optimal found: +80+80+25+1+100+66+80+80+80+100+25+66+66+4+100+4+1+66.
Optimal found: +1+100+100+100+2+66+25+100+66+100+80+4+100+80+100.
Optimal found: +66+100+100+100+100+100+100+100+66+66+25+1+100.
Optimal found: +100+66+80+66+100+66+80+66+100+100+100+100.
Done.
Cons: It is worth mentioning again: This algorithm does not guarantee that you will find the optimal values. It makes a brute-force approximation.
Pros: Fast. 100k iterations may initially seem a lot, but the algorithm starts ignoring long paths after it detects more and more optimized paths, since it lessens the maximum allowed number of cycles.

Computing LCM of M consecutive numbers in an array of N integers

I came across this problem here. It was a programming contest held earlier this year.
Here is the summary :
Given an array of N integers, find LCM of all consecutive M integers.
For e.g.
Array = [3,5,6,4,8] (hence N = 5)
M = 3
Output :
LCM(3,5,6) = 30
LCM(5,6,4) = 60
LCM(6,4,8) = 24
In fact there's a solution sketch here but I couldn't understand the Dynamic Programming Part.
So if someone could elaborate on the same solution with some examples it will be great.
A new, easy to understand solution will also be appreciated.
I can not access the solution any more (maybe the link is broken?), but here is what I would do:
I would have my program work like a pyramid. On the lowest row, I would have the array with the given numbers. On each row above, I would have an array with one field less than the array below. It would store the LCM of two values from the array below.
[ 30 ]
[ 15, 30 ]
[3, 5, 6]
This way you can work with a recursive function and you have to build M-1 layers of the pyramid. Here's a Pseudo-Code implementation:
rekursivePyramid (Integer[] numbers, Integer height) {
if (height == 0) return numbers;
else {
newNumbers = Integer[numbers.size() - 1];
for (i=0; i<newNumbers.size(); i++) {
newNumbers[i] = LCM ( numbers[i], numbers[i+1]);
}
return rekursivePyramid( newNumbers, height-1);
}
}
This will give you an array, where you find the LCM of the first M numbers in first field, the LCM from the second to the M+1st number in the second field, etc.

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