Make all array elements equal by replacing adjacent pairs by their sum

Given an array arr[] consisting of N integers, the task is to replace a minimum number of pairs of adjacent elements by their sum to make all array elements equal. Print the minimum number of such operations required.
Examples:
Input: arr[] = {1, 2, 3}
Output: 1
Explanation: Replace arr[0] and arr[1] by their sum. Therefore, the array modifies to {3, 3}.
After completing the above operations, all the array elements become equal.
Therefore, the number of operations required is 1.Input: arr[] = {4, 4, 4}
Output: 0
Approach: The given problem can be solved using Prefix Sum Array technique. Follow the steps below to solve the given problem:
- Initialize a variable, say count, to store the maximum count of subarrays that can be obtained for any given sum value.
- Initialize an auxiliary array prefix[], of size N, and store the prefix sum of the given array arr[] in it.
- Traverse the array prefix[] and for each element prefix[i], perform the following steps:
- Check whether the given array arr[] can be divided into subarrays with sum prefix[i] or not. If found to be true, then store the count of such subarrays in a variable, say ans.
- Update the value of count as the maximum of count and ans.
- After completing the above steps, print the value of (N – count) as the minimum number of operations required.
Below is the implementation of the above approach:
C++
// C++ program for the above approach#include <bits/stdc++.h>using namespace std;// Function to count the minimum number// of pairs of adjacent elements required// to be replaced by their sum to make all// array elements equalint minSteps(vector<int> a, int n){ // Stores the prefix sum of the array vector<int> prefix_sum(n); prefix_sum[0] = a[0]; // Calculate the prefix sum array for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) prefix_sum[i] += prefix_sum[i - 1] + a[i]; // Stores the maximum number of subarrays // into which the array can be split int mx = -1; // Iterate over all possible sums for (int subgroupsum :prefix_sum) { int sum = 0; int i = 0; int grp_count = 0; // Traverse the array while (i < n) { sum += a[i]; // If the sum is equal to // the current prefix sum if (sum == subgroupsum) { // Increment count // of groups by 1 grp_count += 1; sum = 0; } // Otherwise discard // this subgroup sum else if(sum > subgroupsum) { grp_count = -1; break; } i += 1; } // Update the maximum // this of subarrays if (grp_count > mx) mx = grp_count; } // Return the minimum // number of operations return n - mx;}// Driver Codeint main(){ vector<int> A = {1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3}; int N = A.size(); // Function Call cout << minSteps(A, N); return 0;}// This code is contributed by mohit kumar 29. |
Java
// Java program for the above approachimport java.util.*;class GFG{// Function to count the minimum number// of pairs of adjacent elements required// to be replaced by their sum to make all// array elements equalstatic int minSteps(ArrayList<Integer> a, int n){ // Stores the prefix sum of the array int []prefix_sum = new int[n]; prefix_sum[0] = a.get(0); // Calculate the prefix sum array for(int i = 1; i < n; i++) prefix_sum[i] += prefix_sum[i - 1] + a.get(i); // Stores the maximum number of subarrays // into which the array can be split int mx = -1; // Iterate over all possible sums for(int subgroupsum : prefix_sum) { int sum = 0; int i = 0; int grp_count = 0; // Traverse the array while (i < n) { sum += a.get(i); // If the sum is equal to // the current prefix sum if (sum == subgroupsum) { // Increment count // of groups by 1 grp_count += 1; sum = 0; } // Otherwise discard // this subgroup sum else if(sum > subgroupsum) { grp_count = -1; break; } i += 1; } // Update the maximum // this of subarrays if (grp_count > mx) mx = grp_count; } // Return the minimum // number of operations return n - mx;}// Driver Codepublic static void main(String[] args){ ArrayList<Integer>A = new ArrayList<Integer>(); A.add(1); A.add(2); A.add(3); A.add(2); A.add(1); A.add(3); int N = A.size(); // Function Call System.out.print(minSteps(A, N));}}// This code is contributed by sanjoy_62 |
Python3
# Python3 program for the above approach# Function to count the minimum number# of pairs of adjacent elements required# to be replaced by their sum to make all# array elements equaldef minSteps(a, n): # Stores the prefix sum of the array prefix_sum = a[:] # Calculate the prefix sum array for i in range(1, n): prefix_sum[i] += prefix_sum[i-1] # Stores the maximum number of subarrays # into which the array can be split mx = -1 # Iterate over all possible sums for subgroupsum in prefix_sum: sum = 0 i = 0 grp_count = 0 # Traverse the array while i < n: sum += a[i] # If the sum is equal to # the current prefix sum if sum == subgroupsum: # Increment count # of groups by 1 grp_count += 1 sum = 0 # Otherwise discard # this subgroup sum elif sum > subgroupsum: grp_count = -1 break i += 1 # Update the maximum # this of subarrays if grp_count > mx: mx = grp_count # Return the minimum # number of operations return n - mx# Driver Codeif __name__ == '__main__': A = [1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3] N = len(A) # Function Call print(minSteps(A, N)) |
C#
// C# program for the above approachusing System;using System.Collections.Generic;class GFG{ // Function to count the minimum number// of pairs of adjacent elements required// to be replaced by their sum to make all// array elements equalstatic int minSteps(List<int> a, int n){ // Stores the prefix sum of the array int []prefix_sum = new int[n]; prefix_sum[0] = a[0]; // Calculate the prefix sum array for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) prefix_sum[i] += prefix_sum[i - 1] + a[i]; // Stores the maximum number of subarrays // into which the array can be split int mx = -1; // Iterate over all possible sums foreach (int subgroupsum in prefix_sum) { int sum = 0; int i = 0; int grp_count = 0; // Traverse the array while (i < n) { sum += a[i]; // If the sum is equal to // the current prefix sum if (sum == subgroupsum) { // Increment count // of groups by 1 grp_count += 1; sum = 0; } // Otherwise discard // this subgroup sum else if(sum > subgroupsum) { grp_count = -1; break; } i += 1; } // Update the maximum // this of subarrays if (grp_count > mx) mx = grp_count; } // Return the minimum // number of operations return n - mx;}// Driver Codepublic static void Main(){ List<int> A = new List<int>(){1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3}; int N = A.Count; // Function Call Console.Write(minSteps(A, N));}}// This code is contributed by SURENDRA_GANGWAR. |
Javascript
<script>// Javascript program for the above approach// Function to count the minimum number// of pairs of adjacent elements required// to be replaced by their sum to make all// array elements equalfunction minSteps(a, n){ // Stores the prefix sum of the array var prefix_sum = Array(n).fill(0); prefix_sum[0] = a[0]; // Calculate the prefix sum array for (var i = 1; i < n; i++) prefix_sum[i] += prefix_sum[i - 1] + a[i]; // Stores the maximum number of subarrays // into which the array can be split var mx = -1; // Iterate over all possible sums for (var subgroupsum =0; subgroupsum<prefix_sum.length; subgroupsum++) { var sum = 0; var i = 0; var grp_count = 0; // Traverse the array while (i < n) { sum += a[i]; // If the sum is equal to // the current prefix sum if (sum == prefix_sum[subgroupsum]) { // Increment count // of groups by 1 grp_count += 1; sum = 0; } // Otherwise discard // this subgroup sum else if(sum > prefix_sum[subgroupsum]) { grp_count = -1; break; } i += 1; } // Update the maximum // this of subarrays if (grp_count > mx) mx = grp_count; } // Return the minimum // number of operations return n - mx;}// Driver Codevar A = [1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3];var N = A.length;// Function Calldocument.write( minSteps(A, N));</script> |
2
Time Complexity: O(N2), as we are using nested loops to traverse N2 times.
Auxiliary Space: O(N), as we are using extra space for prefix_sum.
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