Advertisement

Maximum Product After K Increments - LeetCode 2233 Solution

Maximum Product After K Increments - Complete Solution Guide

Maximum Product After K Increments is LeetCode problem 2233, 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

You are given an array of non-negative integers nums and an integer k . In one operation, you may choose any element from nums and increment it by 1 . Return the maximum product of nums after at most k operations. Since the answer may be very large, return it modulo 10 9 + 7 . Note that you should maximize the product before taking the modulo. Example 1: Input: nums = [0,4], k = 5 Output: 20 Explanation: Increment the first number 5 times. Now nums = [5, 4], with a product of 5 * 4 = 20. It can

Detailed Explanation

The problem requires maximizing the product of elements in an array `nums` by incrementing elements at most `k` times. Each increment increases a selected element by 1. The goal is to find the maximum possible product of the elements in `nums` after performing at most `k` such increment operations, modulo 10^9 + 7. This means we want to distribute the `k` increments among the numbers in `nums` such that the final product is maximized before taking the modulo.

Solution Approach

The provided code uses a greedy approach combined with a min-heap (priority queue). The algorithm repeatedly selects the smallest element in `nums`, increments it by 1, and places it back into `nums` (via the heap) until `k` increments have been performed. This ensures that the increments are distributed in such a way that the product of all numbers is maximized. After `k` increments, the algorithm calculates the product of the numbers in `nums`, taking the modulo 10^9 + 7 after each multiplication to prevent overflow.

Step-by-Step Algorithm

  1. Step 1: Create a min-heap (priority queue) from the input array `nums`. This allows easy access to the smallest element.
  2. Step 2: Iterate `k` times. In each iteration:
  3. Step 3: Extract the smallest element from the min-heap using `heapq.heappop` (Python), `pq.poll` (Java), or `pq.top()` and `pq.pop()` (C++).
  4. Step 4: Increment the extracted element by 1.
  5. Step 5: Insert the incremented element back into the min-heap using `heapq.heappush` (Python), `pq.add` (Java), or `pq.push` (C++).
  6. Step 6: After `k` iterations, initialize a variable `product` to 1.
  7. Step 7: Iterate through the elements in the min-heap.
  8. Step 8: Multiply the `product` by the current element, and then take the modulo 10^9 + 7.
  9. Step 9: Return the final `product`.
  10. Step 10: (C only) Need to implement a MinHeap using arrays as there are no built in libraries. Build a heap using the input array.

Key Insights

  • Insight 1: A greedy approach is suitable here. Incrementing the smallest element in `nums` at each step will lead to the maximum possible product. This is because it balances the increase across all elements, rather than disproportionately increasing any single element.
  • Insight 2: Using a min-heap (priority queue) is the ideal data structure for efficiently tracking and retrieving the smallest element in `nums` for each increment operation.
  • Insight 3: The modulo operation is crucial to prevent integer overflow, as the product can become very large. It should be applied after each multiplication to keep the intermediate results within the representable range.

Complexity Analysis

Time Complexity: O(k * log(n) + n), where n is the length of the input array `nums` and k is the number of increments. The heapify operation takes O(n) time if we build the heap initially. Each of the k increment operations involves popping and pushing an element from the heap, each taking O(log n) time. The final product calculation takes O(n) time.

Space Complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the input array `nums`. This is because the min-heap stores all the elements of the array.

Topics

This problem involves: Array, Greedy, Heap (Priority Queue).

Companies

Asked at: Infosys.