Count Number of Maximum Bitwise-OR Subsets - Complete Solution Guide
Count Number of Maximum Bitwise-OR Subsets is LeetCode problem 2044, a Medium level challenge. This complete guide provides step-by-step explanations, multiple solution approaches, and optimized code in python3, java, cpp, c.
Problem Statement
Given an integer array nums , find the maximum possible bitwise OR of a subset of nums and return the number of different non-empty subsets with the maximum bitwise OR . An array a is a subset of an array b if a can be obtained from b by deleting some (possibly zero) elements of b . Two subsets are considered different if the indices of the elements chosen are different. The bitwise OR of an array a is equal to a[0] OR a[1] OR ... OR a[a.length - 1] ( 0-indexed ). Example 1: Input: nums = [3,1]
Detailed Explanation
The problem asks us to find the number of non-empty subsets of a given integer array `nums` such that the bitwise OR of the elements in each subset is equal to the maximum possible bitwise OR that can be achieved by any subset of `nums`. Essentially, we need to find the maximum OR value among all possible subsets and then count how many distinct subsets produce this maximum OR value. The constraints specify that the array length is at most 16, and the values in the array are between 1 and 10^5.
Solution Approach
The solution employs a backtracking algorithm to explore all possible subsets of the given array. First, it calculates the maximum possible bitwise OR by OR-ing all elements in the array. Then, the backtracking function recursively explores subsets, calculating the bitwise OR of each subset. When a subset's OR equals the maximum OR, it means we have found a valid subset. Instead of just incrementing the count by 1, we add `2^(n - index)` to the count. This is because any combination of the remaining elements will also give the same max_or. If the current_or exceeds the max_or, the function stops exploring that branch because OR operation is non-decreasing. The base cases for the recursion are when `index` reaches the end of the array or when `current_or` already equals `max_or`.
Step-by-Step Algorithm
- Step 1: Calculate the `max_or` by taking the bitwise OR of all elements in the `nums` array.
- Step 2: Initialize a `count` variable to 0. This variable will store the number of subsets with the maximum bitwise OR.
- Step 3: Define a backtracking function `backtrack(index, current_or)` that takes the current index and the current bitwise OR as arguments.
- Step 4: In the `backtrack` function, check if `current_or` is equal to `max_or`. If it is, it means that we have found a subset with the maximum bitwise OR. Increment the `count` by `2^(n - index)`. This represents the number of subsets including the remaining elements from index to the end of the array.
- Step 5: Check if `index` is equal to `n` (the length of the array). If it is, it means we've reached the end of the array, and we should return.
- Step 6: Recursively call the `backtrack` function twice: once without including the current element (`backtrack(index + 1, current_or)`) and once including the current element (`backtrack(index + 1, current_or | nums[index])`).
- Step 7: Start the backtracking process by calling `backtrack(0, 0)`.
- Step 8: Return the `count` after the backtracking is complete.
Key Insights
- Insight 1: The maximum bitwise OR can be found by taking the bitwise OR of all elements in the array. This is because the bitwise OR operation can only set bits to 1; it cannot clear them. Therefore, including all elements will maximize the OR value.
- Insight 2: A backtracking approach is suitable due to the constraint on the array length (n <= 16). This allows us to explore all possible subsets without exceeding reasonable time limits.
- Insight 3: When a subset yields the maximum bitwise OR, we can optimize by recognizing that any further subset derived from that subset also contributes to the count. The number of such subsets is 2^(n - index) where index is current index in the backtracking call.
Complexity Analysis
Time Complexity: O(2^n)
Space Complexity: O(n)
Topics
This problem involves: Array, Backtracking, Bit Manipulation, Enumeration.
Companies
Asked at: Citadel.