A friend of mine asked this question long time ago. He asked me to this without iterating the array. I had in my mind to find the sum on N number as then subtract from it the sum of array numbers. and another the XOR calculation.
But these solutions still needs to iterate the array.
I wounder if there exists such solution or algorithm to do this without iterating the array.
Also if you are going to flag this question duplicate please refer me the link.
What's the missing number in this array ?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, *
(The * stands for a number you are not allowed to read, otherwise that would be iterating.)
If there is a missing number in an array you have to inspect it, meaning iterate of the array. No way to do th is without iterating.
In general case, you can't do this. Imagine, that you're given Yves Daoust's sample:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ?]
and you're allowed to read any items of the array, but the last one. What is it? Do I hear seven? No, that's a typical wrong solution:
item = i + (i-1)*(i-2)*(i-3)*(i-4)*(i-5)*(i-6)*F(i)
where F(i) is an arbitrary function (well, not arbitrary, there're some loose restrictions, however - F(i) can't be, say 1/(i-3)). Let
F(i) == 0 -> last item == 7
F(i) == 1 -> last item == 727
F(i) == (pi-i)/720 -> last item == pi
...
You have to have more restrictions, e.g. array represents values of a polynom of the least possible power; in that case the solution is 7
Using the Ruby language, have the function ArrayAdditionI(arr) take the array of numbers stored in arr and return the string true if any combination of numbers in the array can be added up to equal the largest number in the array, otherwise return the string false. For example: if arr contains [4, 6, 23, 10, 1, 3] the output should return true because 4 + 6 + 10 + 3 = 23. The array will not be empty, will not contain all the same elements, and may contain negative numbers.
Could someone please explain to me why this code starts at 'i=2' and not 'i=0'?
def ArrayAdditionI(arr)
i = 2
while i < arr.length
return true if arr.combination(i).map{|comb| comb.inject(:+)}.include?(arr.max)
i += 1
end
false
end
ArrayAdditionI(STDIN.gets)
Correct me if I'm wrong but with i=2, the while loop will iterate [2..4] and then stop. But does this allow for all the potential combinations?...=> code works, so obviously it does but I'm just not seeing it.
i is not the index of the array it the number of elements that is being used to create a combination. So if the max number in the array can be made with the sum of just two elements it stops if not it tries three and so on.
array.combination(i) returns all possible combination of elements in an array with length i.
For example
if
ar=[4, 6, 23, 10]
then
array.combination(2).to_a
returns
[[4,6],[4,23],[4,10],[6,23],[6,10],[23,10]]
So basically you need to find sum in your program and getting sum requires combinations of length two (You need to operands in all possible combination ). Hence you don't start with i=0 or i=1.
You can not give it an empty array，so 0 leads to false. If you have 1 element in an array，it is also meaningless. So I guess 2 is a starting point which makes this test meaningful.
I recently interviewed at Google. Because of this question my process didn't move forward after 2 rounds.
Suppose you are given an array of numbers. You can be given queries
to:
Find the sum of the values between indexes i and j.
Update value at index i to a new given value.
Find the maximum of the values between indexes i and j.
Check whether the subarray between indexes i and j, both inclusive, is in ascending or descending order.
I gave him a solution but it was to check the subarray between the indexes i and j. He asked me to optimize it. I thought of using a hashtable so that if the starting index is same and the ending index is more than the previous found, we store the maximum and whether its in ascending or descending and check only the remaining subarray. But that also didn't optimize it as much as required.
I'd love to know how I can optimize the solution so as to make it acceptable.
Constraints:
Everything from [1,10^5]
Thanks :)
All this queries can be answered in O(log N) time per query in the worst case(with O(N) time for preprocessing). You can just build a segment tree and maintain the sum, the maximum and two boolean flags(they indicate whether the range which corresponds to this node is sorted in ascending/descending order or not) for each node. All this values can be recomputed efficiently for an update query because only O(log N) nodes can change(they lie on the path from the root to a leaf which corresponds to the changing element). All other range queries(sum, max, sorted or not) are decomposed into O(log N) nodes(due to the properties of a segment tree), and it is easy to combine the value of two nodes in O(1)(for example, for sum the result of combining 2 nodes is just the sum of values for these nodes).
Here is some pseudo code. It shows what data should be stored in a node and how to combine values of 2 nodes:
class Node {
bool is_ascending
bool is_descending
int sum
int max
int leftPos
int rightPos
}
Node merge(Node left, Node right) {
res = Node()
res.leftPos = left.leftPos
res.rightPos = right.rightPos
res.sum = left.sum + right.sum
res.max = max(left.max, right.max)
res.is_ascending = left.is_ascending and right.is_ascending
and array[left.rightPos] < array[right.leftPos]
res.is_descending = left.is_descending and right.is_descending
and array[left.rightPos] > array[right.leftPos]
return res
}
As andy pointed out in the comments: The queries are quite different in nature, so the "best" solution will probably depend on which query type is executed most frequently.
However, the task
Find the sum of the values between indexes i and j.
can efficiently be solved by performing a scan/prefix sum computation of the array. Imagine an array of int values
index: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
array: [ 3, 8, 10, -5, 2, 12, 7 ]
Then you compute the Prefix Sum:
index: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6, 7
prefix: [ 0, 3, 11, 21, 16, 18, 30, 37 ]
Note that this can be computed particularly efficient in parallel. In fact, this is one important building block of many parallel algorithms, as described in the thesis "Vector Models for Data-Parallel Computing" by Guy E. Blelloch (thesis as PDF File).
Additionally, it can be computed in two ways: Either starting with the value from array[0], or starting with 0. This will, of course, affect how the resulting prefix array has to be accessed. Here, I started with 0, and made the resulting array one element longer than the input array. This may also be implemented differently, but in this case, it makes it easier to obey the array limits (although one would still have to clarify in which cases indices should be considered as inclusive or exclusive).
However, given this prefix sum array, one can compute the sum of elements between indices i and j in constant time, by simply subtracting the corresponding values of the prefix sum array:
sum(n=i..j)(array[n]) = (prefix[j+1] - prefix[i])
For example:
sum(n=2..5)(array[n]) = 10 + (-5) + 2 + 12 = 19
prefix[5+1] - prefix[2] = 30 - 11 = 19
For task 2,
Update value at index i to a new given value.
this would mean that the prefix sums would have to be updated. This could be done brute-force, in linear time, by just adding the difference of the old value and the new value to all prefix sums that appear after the modified element (but for this, also see the notes in the last section of this answer)
The tasks 3 and 4
Find the maximum of the values between indexes i and j.
Check whether the subarray between indexes i and j, both inclusive, is in ascending or descending order.
I could imagine that the maximum value could simply be tracked while building the prefix sums, as well as checking whether the values are only ascending or descending. However, when values are updated, this information would have to be re-computed.
In any case, there are some data structures that deal with prefix sums in particular. I think that a Fenwick tree might allow to implement some of the O(n) operations mentioned above in O(logn), but I have not yet looked at this in detail.
I have for example 5 arrays with some inserted elements (numbers):
1,4,8,10
1,2,3,4,11,15
2,4,20,21
2,30
I need to find most common elements in those arrays and every element should go all the way till the end (see example below). In this example that would be the bold combination (or the same one but with "30" on the end, it's the "same") because it contains the smallest number of different elements (only two, 4 and 2/30).
This combination (see below) isn't good because if I have for ex. "4" it must "go" till it ends (next array mustn't contain "4" at all). So combination must go all the way till the end.
1,4,8,10
1,2,3,4,11,15
2,4,20,21
2,30
EDIT2: OR
1,4,8,10
1,2,3,4,11,15
2,4,20,21
2,30
OR anything else is NOT good.
Is there some algorithm to speed this thing up (if I have thousands of arrays with hundreds of elements in each one)?
To make it clear - solution must contain lowest number of different elements and the groups (of the same numbers) must be grouped from first - larger ones to the last - smallest ones. So in upper example 4,4,4,2 is better then 4,2,2,2 because in first example group of 4's is larger than group of 2's.
EDIT: To be more specific. Solution must contain the smallest number of different elements and those elements must be grouped from first to last. So if I have three arrrays like
1,2,3
1,4,5
4,5,6
Solution is 1,1,4 or 1,1,5 or 1,1,6 NOT 2,5,5 because 1's have larger group (two of them) than 2's (only one).
Thanks.
EDIT3: I can't be more specific :(
EDIT4: #spintheblack 1,1,1,2,4 is the correct solution because number used first time (let's say at position 1) can't be used later (except it's in the SAME group of 1's). I would say that grouping has the "priority"? Also, I didn't mention it (sorry about that) but the numbers in arrays are NOT sorted in any way, I typed it that way in this post because it was easier for me to follow.
Here is the approach you want to take, if arrays is an array that contains each individual array.
Starting at i = 0
current = arrays[i]
Loop i from i+1 to len(arrays)-1
new = current & arrays[i] (set intersection, finds common elements)
If there are any elements in new, do step 6, otherwise skip to 7
current = new, return to step 3 (continue loop)
print or yield an element from current, current = arrays[i], return to step 3 (continue loop)
Here is a Python implementation:
def mce(arrays):
count = 1
current = set(arrays[0])
for i in range(1, len(arrays)):
new = current & set(arrays[i])
if new:
count += 1
current = new
else:
print " ".join([str(current.pop())] * count),
count = 1
current = set(arrays[i])
print " ".join([str(current.pop())] * count)
>>> mce([[1, 4, 8, 10], [1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 15], [2, 4, 20, 21], [2, 30]])
4 4 4 2
If all are number lists, and are all sorted, then,
Convert to array of bitmaps.
Keep 'AND'ing the bitmaps till you hit zero. The position of the 1 in the previous value indicates the first element.
Restart step 2 from the next element
This has now turned into a graphing problem with a twist.
The problem is a directed acyclic graph of connections between stops, and the goal is to minimize the number of lines switches when riding on a train/tram.
ie. this list of sets:
1,4,8,10 <-- stop A
1,2,3,4,11,15 <-- stop B
2,4,20,21 <-- stop C
2,30 <-- stop D, destination
He needs to pick lines that are available at his exit stop, and his arrival stop, so for instance, he can't pick 10 from stop A, because 10 does not go to stop B.
So, this is the set of available lines and the stops they stop on:
A B C D
line 1 -----X-----X-----------------
line 2 -----------X-----X-----X-----
line 3 -----------X-----------------
line 4 -----X-----X-----X-----------
line 8 -----X-----------------------
line 10 -----X-----------------------
line 11 -----------X-----------------
line 15 -----------X-----------------
line 20 -----------------X-----------
line 21 -----------------X-----------
line 30 -----------------------X-----
If we consider that a line under consideration must go between at least 2 consecutive stops, let me highlight the possible choices of lines with equal signs:
A B C D
line 1 -----X=====X-----------------
line 2 -----------X=====X=====X-----
line 3 -----------X-----------------
line 4 -----X=====X=====X-----------
line 8 -----X-----------------------
line 10 -----X-----------------------
line 11 -----------X-----------------
line 15 -----------X-----------------
line 20 -----------------X-----------
line 21 -----------------X-----------
line 30 -----------------------X-----
He then needs to pick a way that transports him from A to D, with the minimal number of line switches.
Since he explained that he wants the longest rides first, the following sequence seems the best solution:
take line 4 from stop A to stop C, then switch to line 2 from C to D
Code example:
stops = [
[1, 4, 8, 10],
[1,2,3,4,11,15],
[2,4,20,21],
[2,30],
]
def calculate_possible_exit_lines(stops):
"""
only return lines that are available at both exit
and arrival stops, discard the rest.
"""
result = []
for index in range(0, len(stops) - 1):
lines = []
for value in stops[index]:
if value in stops[index + 1]:
lines.append(value)
result.append(lines)
return result
def all_combinations(lines):
"""
produce all combinations which travel from one end
of the journey to the other, across available lines.
"""
if not lines:
yield []
else:
for line in lines[0]:
for rest_combination in all_combinations(lines[1:]):
yield [line] + rest_combination
def reduce(combination):
"""
reduce a combination by returning the number of
times each value appear consecutively, ie.
[1,1,4,4,3] would return [2,2,1] since
the 1's appear twice, the 4's appear twice, and
the 3 only appear once.
"""
result = []
while combination:
count = 1
value = combination[0]
combination = combination[1:]
while combination and combination[0] == value:
combination = combination[1:]
count += 1
result.append(count)
return tuple(result)
def calculate_best_choice(lines):
"""
find the best choice by reducing each available
combination down to the number of stops you can
sit on a single line before having to switch,
and then picking the one that has the most stops
first, and then so on.
"""
available = []
for combination in all_combinations(lines):
count_stops = reduce(combination)
available.append((count_stops, combination))
available = [k for k in reversed(sorted(available))]
return available[0][1]
possible_lines = calculate_possible_exit_lines(stops)
print("possible lines: %s" % (str(possible_lines), ))
best_choice = calculate_best_choice(possible_lines)
print("best choice: %s" % (str(best_choice), ))
This code prints:
possible lines: [[1, 4], [2, 4], [2]]
best choice: [4, 4, 2]
Since, as I said, I list lines between stops, and the above solution can either count as lines you have to exit from each stop or lines you have to arrive on into the next stop.
So the route is:
Hop onto line 4 at stop A and ride on that to stop B, then to stop C
Hop onto line 2 at stop C and ride on that to stop D
There are probably edge-cases here that the above code doesn't work for.
However, I'm not bothering more with this question. The OP has demonstrated a complete incapability in communicating his question in a clear and concise manner, and I fear that any corrections to the above text and/or code to accommodate the latest comments will only provoke more comments, which leads to yet another version of the question, and so on ad infinitum. The OP has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid answering direct questions or to explain the problem.
I am assuming that "distinct elements" do not have to actually be distinct, they can repeat in the final solution. That is if presented with [1], [2], [1] that the obvious answer [1, 2, 1] is allowed. But we'd count this as having 3 distinct elements.
If so, then here is a Python solution:
def find_best_run (first_array, *argv):
# initialize data structures.
this_array_best_run = {}
for x in first_array:
this_array_best_run[x] = (1, (1,), (x,))
for this_array in argv:
# find the best runs ending at each value in this_array
last_array_best_run = this_array_best_run
this_array_best_run = {}
for x in this_array:
for (y, pattern) in last_array_best_run.iteritems():
(distinct_count, lengths, elements) = pattern
if x == y:
lengths = tuple(lengths[:-1] + (lengths[-1] + 1,))
else :
distinct_count += 1
lengths = tuple(lengths + (1,))
elements = tuple(elements + (x,))
if x not in this_array_best_run:
this_array_best_run[x] = (distinct_count, lengths, elements)
else:
(prev_count, prev_lengths, prev_elements) = this_array_best_run[x]
if distinct_count < prev_count or prev_lengths < lengths:
this_array_best_run[x] = (distinct_count, lengths, elements)
# find the best overall run
best_count = len(argv) + 10 # Needs to be bigger than any possible answer.
for (distinct_count, lengths, elements) in this_array_best_run.itervalues():
if distinct_count < best_count:
best_count = distinct_count
best_lengths = lengths
best_elements = elements
elif distinct_count == best_count and best_lengths < lengths:
best_count = distinct_count
best_lengths = lengths
best_elements = elements
# convert it into a more normal representation.
answer = []
for (length, element) in zip(best_lengths, elements):
answer.extend([element] * length)
return answer
# example
print find_best_run(
[1,4,8,10],
[1,2,3,4,11,15],
[2,4,20,21],
[2,30]) # prints [4, 4, 4, 30]
Here is an explanation. The ...this_run dictionaries have keys which are elements in the current array, and they have values which are tuples (distinct_count, lengths, elements). We are trying to minimize distinct_count, then maximize lengths (lengths is a tuple, so this will prefer the element with the largest value in the first spot) and are tracking elements for the end. At each step I construct all possible runs which are a combination of a run up to the previous array with this element next in sequence, and find which ones are best to the current. When I get to the end I pick the best possible overall run, then turn it into a conventional representation and return it.
If you have N arrays of length M, this should take O(N*M*M) time to run.
I'm going to take a crack here based on the comments, please feel free to comment further to clarify.
We have N arrays and we are trying to find the 'most common' value over all arrays when one value is picked from each array. There are several constraints 1) We want the smallest number of distinct values 2) The most common is the maximal grouping of similar letters (changing from above for clarity). Thus, 4 t's and 1 p beats 3 x's 2 y's
I don't think either problem can be solved greedily - here's a counterexample [[1,4],[1,2],[1,2],[2],[3,4]] - a greedy algorithm would pick [1,1,1,2,4] (3 distinct numbers) [4,2,2,2,4] (two distinct numbers)
This looks like a bipartite matching problem, but I'm still coming up with the formulation..
EDIT : ignore; This is a different problem, but if anyone can figure it out, I'd be really interested
EDIT 2 : For anyone that's interested, the problem that I misinterpreted can be formulated as an instance of the Hitting Set problem, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertex_cover#Hitting_set_and_set_cover. Basically the left hand side of the bipartite graph would be the arrays and the right hand side would be the numbers, edges would be drawn between arrays that contain each number. Unfortunately, this is NP complete, but the greedy solutions described above are essentially the best approximation.
Can anyone tell me if there is a way (in MATLAB) to check whether a certain value is equal to any of the values stored within another array?
The way I intend to use it is to check whether an element index in one matrix is equal to the values stored in another array (where the stored values are the indices of the elements which meet a certain criteria).
So, if the indices of the elements which meet the criteria are stored in the matrix below:
criteriacheck = [3 5 6 8 20];
Going through the main array (called array) and checking if the index matches:
for i = 1:numel(array)
if i == 'Any value stored in criteriacheck'
%# "Do this"
end
end
Does anyone have an idea of how I might go about this?
The excellent answer previously given by #woodchips applies here as well:
Many ways to do this. ismember is the first that comes to mind, since it is a set membership action you wish to take. Thus
X = primes(20);
ismember([15 17],X)
ans =
0 1
Since 15 is not prime, but 17 is, ismember has done its job well here.
Of course, find (or any) will also work. But these are not vectorized in the sense that ismember was. We can test to see if 15 is in the set represented by X, but to test both of those numbers will take a loop, or successive tests.
~isempty(find(X == 15))
~isempty(find(X == 17))
or,
any(X == 15)
any(X == 17)
Finally, I would point out that tests for exact values are dangerous if the numbers may be true floats. Tests against integer values as I have shown are easy. But tests against floating point numbers should usually employ a tolerance.
tol = 10*eps;
any(abs(X - 3.1415926535897932384) <= tol)
you could use the find command
if (~isempty(find(criteriacheck == i)))
% do something
end
Note: Although this answer doesn't address the question in the title, it does address a more fundamental issue with how you are designing your for loop (the solution of which negates having to do what you are asking in the title). ;)
Based on the for loop you've written, your array criteriacheck appears to be a set of indices into array, and for each of these indexed elements you want to do some computation. If this is so, here's an alternative way for you to design your for loop:
for i = criteriacheck
%# Do something with array(i)
end
This will loop over all the values in criteriacheck, setting i to each subsequent value (i.e. 3, 5, 6, 8, and 20 in your example). This is more compact and efficient than looping over each element of array and checking if the index is in criteriacheck.
NOTE: As Jonas points out, you want to make sure criteriacheck is a row vector for the for loop to function properly. You can form any matrix into a row vector by following it with the (:)' syntax, which reshapes it into a column vector and then transposes it into a row vector:
for i = criteriacheck(:)'
...
The original question "Can anyone tell me if there is a way (in MATLAB) to check whether a certain value is equal to any of the values stored within another array?" can be solved without any loop.
Just use the setdiff function.
I think the INTERSECT function is what you are looking for.
C = intersect(A,B) returns the values common to both A and B. The
values of C are in sorted order.
http://www.mathworks.de/de/help/matlab/ref/intersect.html
The question if i == 'Any value stored in criteriacheck can also be answered this way if you consider i a trivial matrix. However, you are proably better off with any(i==criteriacheck)