vovuh's blog

By vovuh, history, 4 years ago, In English

I'm so thankful to all testers, especially to Gassa and Rox for their invaluable help!

1409A - Yet Another Two Integers Problem

Idea: vovuh

Tutorial
Solution

1409B - Minimum Product

Idea: vovuh

Tutorial
Solution

1409C - Yet Another Array Restoration

Idea: vovuh

Tutorial
Solution (Gassa)
Solution (vovuh)
Solution (Rox)

1409D - Decrease the Sum of Digits

Idea: MikeMirzayanov

Tutorial
Solution

1409E - Two Platforms

Idea: vovuh

Tutorial
Solution

1409F - Subsequences of Length Two

Idea: vovuh

Tutorial
Solution
Solution (Gassa, greedy, O(n^4))
  • Vote: I like it
  • +107
  • Vote: I do not like it

| Write comment?
»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

fastest tutorial <3

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Runtime Error C++ Exit code is -1073741571

Submission : https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91879266

Can anyone explain what is going wrong in my code that is giving me runtime error?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks :)

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    r[r.length() — 1]++; I guess this line is what causing error when r="" that is length = 0, r[-1] will give segmentation fault

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

nice problemset

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +19 Vote: I do not like it

My screencast + live commentary, enjoy watching :)

https://youtu.be/nloGFTpdTJo

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

Wonderful problems, tutorials and solutions!

Thanks to writers!

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -67 Vote: I do not like it

.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +30 Vote: I do not like it

    Don't spam the editorial blogs with these dead memes dude.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Why does pow(10,18) return 10^18-1

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

    pow() doesn't always give the right answer, because it was intended to work with doubles, not integers

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    if u want to use pow for high powers u can typecast with long long int , whichs works quite effectively.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      I do not know what that is could you show me an example?

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

        I think he means if you want to do pow(10,x) and not have it mess up, do (long long)pow(10,x) and it will cast it to a long long and will give the right answer.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +7 Vote: I do not like it

Why B solution is optimal? I did it, but didn't understand why it worked

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
    Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

    Suppose you have 2 numbers a and b and you can decrement them by 1, 2 times.

    Then you have 3 options
    - a-1,b-1
    - a-2,b
    - a,b-2

    In first case product is ab+1-a-b.
    In second case product is ab-2b.
    In third case product is ab-2a.

    Now let b>a

    Then ab+1-a-b > ab-a-b > ab-2b (because a<b)
    So you now saw first case gives bigger product than 2nd case.

    Similarly you can prove for other pair of cases too.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

    If we decrease a 2 times, then you decreased the product by 2*b. If we decrease b 2 times, then we decreased the product by 2*a. If we decrease a once and b once, then we decreased the product by a+b.

    If a>b, 2*a>=a+b>=2*b, whereas, if b>a, 2*b>=a+b>=2*a

    I guess you can see why decreasing one as much as possible is optimal.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Can someone tell me why my submission for E doesn't work? It's coordinate compression + greedy. https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91881485

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

    Dont know why you used coordinate compression but greedy wont work for this. Greedily choosing best for one plank might incur loss in overall max answer.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Could you give me an example please? I still don't get why greedy won't work. I used coordinate compression beacause the values of the xs and ys could range from 1 to 10^9.

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        I got why. Thanks anyways!

        • »
          »
          »
          »
          »
          4 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

          Can you explain why it wouldn't work?? I too had a similar approach.

          • »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            4 years ago, # ^ |
              Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

            Take this case:

            6 1
            1 2 2 3 3 4
            1 1 2 1 2 1
            

            Answer should be 6, but greedily it is 5.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it

Well, with a little bit of maths, C can even be solved in O(n)

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

E can also be solved with a simple DP. First, sort the $$$x$$$ array. Then for each $$$i$$$ from $$$0$$$ up to $$$n - 1$$$:

  • Find first such $$$j$$$ that either $$$j = n$$$ or $$$x_i + k < x_j$$$. Notice that $$$j$$$ never decreases so there is no additional complexity here.
  • Let $$$dp^0_i = max(dp^0_i, dp^0_{i - 1})$$$ and $$$dp^1_i = max(dp^1_i, dp^1_{i - 1})$$$ for $$$i \ne 0$$$ and $$$dp^0_i = dp^1_i = 0$$$ for $$$i = 0$$$.
  • Let $$$dp^0_j = max(dp^0_j, j - i)$$$ and $$$dp^1_j = max(dp^1_j, dp^0_i + j - i)$$$.

$$$dp^0_i$$$ contains best answer up to $$$x = x_i$$$ with one platform, and $$$dp^1_i$$$ with two platforms. If you are lazy (like me), just take the maximum of all values. Note that $$$j$$$ can be $$$n$$$ in the above loop, so the DP array will have $$$n + 1$$$ items.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

Very nice problems!

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

Thanks vovuh! Nice contest to learn the basics for noobs like me

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

How to solve E if we have K platforms? $$$O(KNlogN)$$$ is fine but better than this??

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +27 Vote: I do not like it

    $$$dp_{i, j}$$$ — we at the $$$x=i$$$ and placed $$$j$$$ segments. $$$dp_{i, j} = max(dp_{i - 1, j}, dp_{i - k - 1, j - 1} + cnt(i - k, i)$$$ where $$$cnt(l, r)$$$ is the number of points between $$$x=l$$$ and $$$x=r$$$. Can be improved by coordinates compression and two pointers (if the outer loop iterates over $$$k$$$ and inner loop iterates over the positions). Total complexity is $$$O(nk)$$$.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Nice solution, so this works even if we have $$$q$$$ platforms, and for each of them, we are given $$$cost_i$$$ and $$$length_i$$$, and you have a total budget $$$B$$$. It's some knapsack then?

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

        Yes, it's a knapsack, but you need an additional state in your dynamic programming to solve such a problem.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
    Rev. 7   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    You can binary search to find the maximum index can reach from each index i and store data in two arrays X, Y

    first of all you need to sort x points "y points are useless"

    by using binary search you can search for ind "the maximum index you can reach from index i" and store in X and Y the number of nodes "which is ind-i+1"

    then you can maximize the elements of X from the back so you have the maximum number of nodes you can take starting from node i to the end

    the answer will be max(Y[i]+X[i+Y[i]]) "make sure (i+Y[i]) doesn't go out of the array"

    O(nLog(n))

    https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91933328

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
      Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      You should re-read the problem

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        It was misunderstand.

        Sorry.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
      Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      I'm using similar logic but not sure why the 2nd test case is giving wrong answer. 101451461

      First I'm compressing the array of Xs, and then for each X[i], trying to find farthest X[j] such that it's at least K units away. Then I'm basically iterating over each X[i] again and evaluating answer for i as max_number_of_points_for_X_i+ max_answer for farthest (eligible_index+1).

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
        Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        This test cases drop your code

        1

        3 10

        10 100 1000

        1 1 1

        your code print 3 and the answer here is 2

        Lower_bound function return you points which is larger than c[i].second+k which makes you count them

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        to solve this problem i searched in lower_bound for c[i].second+(k+1) to find the smallest number out of my range then decrement ind by 1

        an accepted solution for your code after this small edit https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/101465446

        it doesn't work for me with upper_bound on c[i].second+k instead of lower_bound on c[i].second+(k+1), i really don't know why.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    I believe you can solve this version in $$$O(NlogN)$$$ using Alien's trick. Here's a good tutorial on it: http://serbanology.com/show_article.php?art=The%20Trick%20From%20Aliens

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Yeah, F can be solved in O(n^3).

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Hey could someone please take a look. I did the same thing as the editorial for Problem E but still getting WA.

[Submission here](https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91884363)

any help is appreciated, thanks!

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    I think pts2 = upper_bound(all(xc),xc[next_ind]+k) — (xc.begin()+next_ind); should be replaced with a suffix MAX array

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      I think both of them should yield the same result, is that incorrect? Anyway will try that!

      Thanks for your help!

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

can someone help me the tutorial of Problem B ? .. I didnt get it ... or any better soln will be appreciated !

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    Well the tutorial says that if we decide decrease a by 1 in the step then it's better to continue to decrease a until we can and then start with b. Similarly if we start with b then keep on decreasing it until we can then start with a.

    consider both of the above cases and print the smallest product. Hope this helps:)

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -11 Vote: I do not like it

Problem D — Can be solved in constant time (O(18))

Approach
Example
Python Implementation
  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +27 Vote: I do not like it

    This is the same time complexity as the intended solution.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -9 Vote: I do not like it

      I believe the editorial solution is actually O(18*18) as it goes through the array once to calculate the prefix/suffix and it also goes through the array to calculate the sum. To reduce the extra log(N) factor, an int could be used to keep track of the sum and just update it accordingly in between iterations. However, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    It can also be solved with binary search.

    • »
      »
      »
      3 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      TimeTraveler Can you please explain how your Binary search solution works here?

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        3 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        For a given number x, we need to check if we can make the sum less than s in moves <= x, i.e is there any number between n and n + x which has sum of digits <= s ? Then we can binary search over the value of x.

        • »
          »
          »
          »
          »
          22 months ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

          and how do we do this check (fast): "is there any number between n and n + x which has sum of digits <= s "

          • »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            22 months ago, # ^ |
              Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

            By finding the least sum possible between n and n + x. Here's the function (log n) I wrote in my submission.

            Check function
            • »
              »
              »
              »
              »
              »
              »
              5 months ago, # ^ |
                Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

              Can you explain the reason why if s1.length() < s2.length() return true?

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

1409E - Two Platforms I do not get the point why the y[] are in the statement. If it is obvious that we do not need them, then they are obviously unnecessary. If it is not so obvious then it is a misleading statement. So, why?

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +19 Vote: I do not like it

    spookywooky I do not get the point why this comment is under the editorial. If it is obvious that we do not need it, then it is obviously unnecessary. If it is not so obvious then it is a misleading comment. So, why?

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

      I mean, I don't think this makes sense. Clearly spookywooky thought we do need the comment, so your clever response isn't actually valid.

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

        I thought this legend needs $$$y$$$-coordinates as well as he thought we need this comment.

        Partially, your answer below is right, this part teaches to notice some probably useless things in the problem and to make some transitions from one problem to another. And yeah, this is essentially not the worst way to allow repeated $$$x$$$-coordinates.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

    The y coordinates are of no use I agree but they are necessary as a part the author to chose to describe the original problem, sometimes some variables are just to help understand the actual statement clearly , but here these y coordinates are not misleading!

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

      I do not think they are necessary in any way. The statement would be much simpler if formulated in 1 dimensional space. "Here are some x[], find two segments of size k covering as most possible of those points on x-axis, how much?"

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +17 Vote: I do not like it

        Unfortunately problems are not all supposed to be simple. You have to decipher for yourself what is important and what is not. Just because it was obvious to some does not mean that others don't make that connection, at least immediately.

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        This is not atcoder.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

      I don't know whether they are misleading or not, but they are definitely unnecessary.

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

        Unnecessary from readers point of view, think as a setter and you have this question in your mind but you have to plot a frame to fit it into an understandable statement. Now since everyone have different ways to describe the problem thus a statement in order to describe the original point of you may go in various directions. If you were a setter may be you would describe it in an easier fashion. But everyone cannot have same thoughts. Making a perfect problem statement that match thought of every participant is a tough kind of job. When we will jump into it we will realize the importance of clearity!

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +37 Vote: I do not like it

    One benefit of $$$y$$$-coordinates is that it makes it clear and unambiguous that we can have repeated $$$x$$$-coordinates, as well as overlapping platforms. However, the statement said platforms could overlap anyway, so yeah I'm not sure.

    Also, maybe it was intentional that they're unnecessary because the 2D to 1D transformation is something worth testing/teaching, especially in Division 3. In general, part of the difficulty of Codeforces problems does stem from transforming the problem into an equivalent but simpler one (in a way, this is all problem-solving).

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

For Problem D: Can anyone tell me what's wrong in the following approach: For example 217871987498122 10, traverse from starting digits, 2,1,7,8 and add them, when sum become greater than or equal to 10, that is on 7. increment one digit before 7 from 1 to 2 and rest all digits after it to 0, the number will become 220000000000000. if it violates on first digit then make 1000... this number. please help?

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
    Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    you need to stop when the sum becomes greater than or equal to S. In this test case, you are actually already doing that.

    Otherwise, the approach looks good to me. I've also implemented an almost similar approach.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      i had stopped, can you tell me, what's wrong in the code? 91871968

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
        Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

        I tried stress testing your submission against mine on random inputs and found that your code fails on some inputs.

        Example

        Upon observing, it fails on all such inputs where the digit at which you stop is 9, so your code tries to increment it, but it fails, and ends up dropping the remaining digits altogether.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

My solution to C was as follows. I "stuffed" as many elements as I could betweeen x and y. Then I calculated this minimum difference and added some elements less than x. I would add as many as I could until I was done or these values became negative. In the case they became negative, I would add the remaining values above y. I believe this should be O(N)

My solution: https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91831887

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91894057

can somebody please help me with this problem why it is giving the wrong answer? any help would be highly appreciated

Thanks

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    In the loop where you work with Sum and carry stuff, you have put the check and increment condition w.r.t j where it should be in respect to i.

    As a result i is not changing therefore affecting your answer.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Brother, You are too good. thanks for showing your generosity towards me. Got AC

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Can somebody explain me the greedy approach in problem F please....

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +29 Vote: I do not like it

    Let the string $$$t$$$ be be (begin and end). Sure, there is also a case where the letters of $$$t$$$ are equal, but it can be solved separately, or the solution could be carefully implemented to account for that.

    Now, suppose that we are going to make exactly $$$k$$$ moves. We have two kinds of useful moves: put b somewhere and put e somewhere. Let the number of b-moves be $$$b$$$, and the number of e-moves be $$$e = k - b$$$.

    Of all the ways to put exactly $$$b$$$ letters b, the most impactful way is to put them into $$$b$$$ leftmost places in the string... unless we change some e into b in the process. Let the number of e -> b moves we are going to make be $$$x$$$ ($$$0 \le x \le b$$$). So, with our b-moves, we pick $$$x$$$ leftmost letters e and change them into b, then pick $$$b - x$$$ leftmost letters which are not b and not e and change them into b.

    Similarly, when we are going to put exactly $$$e$$$ letters e, the most impactful way to do it is to put them into $$$e$$$ rightmost places in the string... unless we change some b into e. Let the number of b -> e moves we are going to make be $$$y$$$ ($$$0 \le y \le e$$$). So, with our e-moves, we change $$$y$$$ leftmost letters b into e, and also change $$$e - y$$$ leftmost letters which are not b and not e into e.

    What remains is to look over all possible tuples of $$$(b, e, x, y)$$$. Remember that $$$e = k - b$$$, so there are only $$$O (n^3)$$$ such tuples. For each of them, simulate the above greedy process (in linear time) and then find the answer (in linear time too). The total complexity is $$$O (n^4)$$$. A possible speedup is to precompute the required stuff for prefixes and suffixes, bringing it down to $$$O (n^3)$$$ or $$$O (n^2)$$$ (didn't actually try).

    Why we can assume $$$e = k - b$$$? If we actually do less than $$$k$$$ moves in the optimal solution, it means all the letters become b or e. So we can cheat: for the optimal $$$e$$$, we make unnecessary moves from the left, and then overwrite their results by exactly $$$e$$$ moves from the right.


    All in all, this greedy solution requires more observations than the dynamic programming solution, but requires less proficiency to come up with it.

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

1409C - Yet Another Array Restoration can be solved greedily in $$$O(n)$$$ instead of $$$O(n+\sqrt{y})$$$.

Hint
Code (Python 3)
»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

In 1409D - Decrease the Sum of Digits, if we maintain the digit sum, time complexity will be reduced to $$$O(\log n)$$$.

Code (Python 3)
»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Hi guys, I'm a python coder and I was wondering if someone could explain to me what's slowing my code down?

Submission: https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91900467

It should work quite fast since each loop can only go 18 times, and it seems to work fast when I tested it. However, I keep running out of time on test 3.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    Number of operations is $$$2 \cdot 10^4 \cdot 18 \cdot 18 \approx 6.5 \cdot 10^6$$$ operations, and when you include the powers 10**(i+1) and 10**i, as well as the fact that pypy bigint's are pretty slow, it's too much for python to handle I guess.

    I tried submitting it in Python3 instead, to solve the bigint problem, but that didn't work.

    It could've been easily fixed by having $$$100$$$ or $$$1000$$$ test cases maximum, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it
»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Can someone tell me why my code is giving the wrong answer, please... Submission: https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91873431 Thank you.. big help

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    For $$$10, 1$$$, your code if(sum == s && i!=v.size()-1) is triggered at $$$i=0$$$, so your shortcut to output "0" if(i == v.size()) fails.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

My doubt is pretty naive. Still I want to know why wrapper class Integer/ Long array sorting is faster than primitive data types like int / long ? I know that primitive data type use quicksort internally in Arrays.sort().

Also, when to use primitive for sorting and when to use wrapper for the same.

Also look at both of my submissions for E in this contest.

  • Submission 1 getting TLE because of using Arrays.sort() in long[] array. My submission 91904739
  • Submission 2 passing system tests because of using Arrays.sort() in Long[] array. My submission: 91904938
  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
    Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    In a nutshell, you can be hacked with an adversarial case that makes quicksort degrade to quadratic. Object sort uses merge sort instead which doesn't have this issue, but wrapper objects are slow and inconvenient.

    I think the best solution is to randomly shuffle before sorting (I have a prewritten safeSort method, you can see it here: 91830757).

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Thanks for your reply. I got what the actual problem is.

      By the way, shuffling the array and then sorting it may (very rare) also cause TLE if the array after shuffling comes out to be the worst case for quicksort.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

Then let's build suffix maximum array on r and prefix maximum array on l. For l, just iterate over all i from 2 to n and do li:=max(li,li−1). For r, just iterate over all i from n−1 to 1 and do ri:=max(ri,ri+1).

In problem E — the editorialist tells to build suffix maximum array on r and prefix maximum array on l. But Why?? I understand the use of the prefix array and suffix array. Why to find the maximum prefix array and suffix array?

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
    Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    Let's assume the answer is segL and segR (which do not overlap of course). Assume that there is a point midp which lies between two segments but do not overlap. We know segL stands on the left side of the midp and segR stands on the right side of the midp. Note that segR is the best platform possible on the right side of the midp otherwise the answer would contain the better platform (which means segR is not a valid solution). Greedly you can see the score of the best platform that is on the right side of the midp can be found using maximum suffix array. Also the the score of the longest platform that is on the left side of the midp can be found using maximum prefix array. This operation takes O(1) time if you have the prefix and suffix arrays. Now, because we don't know the midp, our goal is to iterate over all possible midps in O(n) time and store the best possible score.

    Please don't hesitate asking any questions I'm trying my best to make things clearer.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Can someone share some thoughts about how $$$F$$$ can be solved when length of $$$t$$$ is arbitrary. During contest i didn't read the part that length of $$$t$$$ is fixed and is 2. I kept trying to solve it for t of arbitrary length and when after the contest i read that length of t is fixed i realised it was trivial (: for length t = 2.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

A slightly different and a bit easier to understand (maybe?) implementation of E. 91876338. :)

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Regarding problem E. Two Platforms, I used TreeMap to solve. Them time complexity is also O(N log N), but it is TLE. I got stuck on investigating the cause. Could anyone help me to have a look? thanks.

https://codeforces.me/contest/1409/submission/91911507

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

Why this greedy approache for F is wrong?Can you help me?

Detail:

Suppose we change i positions into t[0],and i2 into t[1].Let's greedy:The i positions which are changed into t[0] is as small as possible,and the i2 positions which are changed into t[1] is as big as possible. (If s[i]=t[0]/t[1] ,it doesn't need to be changed).

Code:

Spoiler
  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
    Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

    i did a greedy approach too and it was like you said the t[0] position should be the least and the t[1] position should be the last but there is a problem maybe we have some character t[0] in the end of the string not exactly the last character but lets say the second half of the string lets say t[0] = a and t[1] = b

    there can be a situation like this : aaa .. b .... (a) .. bb in this case its better to change (a) to (b) to get more occurrences.

    in my solution i count if we change the i position to t[0] or t[1] how much we can get and how much we loss as we can see in the sample if we change (a) to (b) then we get 3 more occurrences and loss 2 occurrences and its good but some times its not however my solution got wrong answer in testcase 41 :))))

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Thank you very much.I have completely understand.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

For problem D, why do we need to have(10−dig)%10 moves instead of (10−dig) moves? As dig=n%10, is that %10 really necessary?

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    dig can be 0 as well so (10-dig) will give you pw*10 instead it should be pw*0

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Can someone help me with F.
My dp[ind][k][left] states that we are at index 'ind', we can do atmost k changes, and we have left occurances of t[0] from [0:ind-1]. Then my answer will be dp[0][k][0]. My transition are, either change current character to t[0], or t[1] or don't change at all.
I am getting wrong answer at testcase 20. My submission 91926014

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 4   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Binary Search Solution for D

For some reason spoiler isn't working properly.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Dear, MikeMirzayanov Please Check Why all my Correct Solutions got Skipped. I had submitted 3 Solutions in Yesterday Div 3. Contest and they were correct but saw today all were skipped which dipped my rating a lot. Please Check why Did it happen.

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    pranshukas Because you sumbit your code again in your alt account anonymouse_13 to hack them afterword.(Remember hacks in div3 give no points).

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      I know that hacking any solution don't give any points. I was new to it so I thought to learn it. That's Why I just submitted my own solutions form some other ID and give it a try. I thought it was in no way harming any policy and it wasn't any mischief either because I haven't cheated, nor Plagrised. Then Why did my Submissions got Skipped?

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

        Did you read the rules of the contest before participating ? If not then the last rule says: "I will not use multiple accounts and will take part in the contest using your personal and the single account".

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

In the solution of Two platforms problem,why are we considering l[i]+r[i+1] rather than l[i]+r[i]?

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

I don't understand where the author says in problem E that li:=max(li,li−1) will help. Why? How? Can somebody explain it more clearly?

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    Don't forget that you have calculated l and r beforehand.

    where li is the number of points to the left from the point i (including i) that are not further than k from the i-th point

    After that you convert the same array to a prefix maximum array (ith element contains best possible value of elements in range(0, i)). By induction you can iterate from left to right and you can say that ith element of maximum array is either i-1th element or the new added element's value. Because the author didn't separate the two arrays it might get a little confusing. They just converted the array to aa prefix maximum array without assigning it to a new variable.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      oh okay I got it thanks!!

      basically maximum contribution upto i from left side + maximum contribution from i+1 to end in right side for each i, while i is the fixed barrier between the two segments(worst case they will share a common end).

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        Exactly. But I don't think worst case is sharing a common end. The algorithm will always run n times on an array.

        • »
          »
          »
          »
          »
          4 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

          yeah, poor choice of words there actually! I meant extreme case if they share common end not overlap

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

I think the explanation of Problem E is a little hard to understand. I think the key point of this question was "Dividing the number line into two segments.". The answer is the best platform that lies in the left segment + the best platform that lies in the right segment. Simply iterate over all possible divisions and the best result is your answer. I couldn't understand the solution when I read this explanation but when I watched SecondThread's video I really understood the problem.

I also really liked the difficulty levels of the first 4 questions.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

What is the proof for the fact in problem B solution ?

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    Assume you are going step by step (decrease 1 at a time) and a > b (you can switch them very easily in code).

    if you decrease a, the final product will be (a-1)b = ab — b if you decrease b, the final product will be a(b-1) = ab — a

    because a > b, decreasing a from ab will result in a smaller product then decreasing b from ab.

    The problem starts when a=x. After a=x, you start decreasing from b. I don't think you can have a solid proof of which is optimal without starting from a or starting from b after this point. Therefore try both possibilities.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

What is 1ll in editorialist solution? ans = min(ans, (a — da) * 1ll * (b — db));

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    LL stands for long long data type. It basically returns 1 as a long long instead of integer default.

    • »
      »
      »
      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Thanks but why it is used here?

      • »
        »
        »
        »
        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

        Because both a and b are integers that may be up to 1e9, so the multiplication would be up to 1e18, meaning it would overflow, that's the reason we want to convert it to long long.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

In the solution code of problem C (Rox); the condition diff/delta + 1 > n Can someone explain it for me?

  • »
    »
    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    i.e x=4, y=16, n=5

    when diff=1 you can get 16 — 4 = 12 so you need to have 12 — 1 = 11 integers to fill that gap. Thats why you check if you have enough integers to fill that gap.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

How to solve F with bigger constraints? I was trying to solve for O(n^2) solution but couldn't make significant progress.

»
4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

I felt soo dumb on myself when i did the correct thing but wasted 45 min and 5 WA submissions for erasing the vector for graph only upto n-1 and not n,on question D.

»
4 years ago, # |
Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

del