Mark Elements on Array by Performing Queries - Complete Solution Guide
Mark Elements on Array by Performing Queries is LeetCode problem 3080, 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 a 0-indexed array nums of size n consisting of positive integers. You are also given a 2D array queries of size m where queries[i] = [index i , k i ] . Initially all elements of the array are unmarked . You need to apply m queries on the array in order, where on the i th query you do the following: Mark the element at index index i if it is not already marked. Then mark k i unmarked elements in the array with the smallest values. If multiple such elements exist, mark the ones with
Detailed Explanation
The problem requires us to simulate marking elements in an array based on a series of queries. Each query consists of an index and a count 'k'. First, if the element at the given index is unmarked, we mark it. Then, we need to find 'k' unmarked elements with the smallest values and mark them as well. If there are fewer than 'k' unmarked elements, we mark all remaining unmarked elements. The goal is to return an array where each element represents the sum of all unmarked elements in the array after processing each query.
Solution Approach
The provided solution uses a straightforward simulation approach. First, it calculates the initial sum of all elements in the array. Then, it creates a boolean array to keep track of which elements are marked. The core idea is to sort the array elements along with their indices to quickly find the smallest unmarked values. For each query, it first marks the element at the given index (if it's not already marked) and updates the total sum. Then, it iterates through the sorted elements and marks the 'k' smallest unmarked elements, updating the total sum accordingly. Finally, the current total sum is appended to the answer array.
Step-by-Step Algorithm
- Step 1: Calculate the initial sum of all elements in the `nums` array.
- Step 2: Create a boolean array `marked` of the same size as `nums`, initialized to `false`, to track marked elements.
- Step 3: Create a sorted list (or array) of pairs, where each pair contains an element from `nums` and its original index.
- Step 4: Iterate through the `queries` array.
- Step 5: For each query `(index, k)`, check if `marked[index]` is `false`. If it is, mark the element at `index` by setting `marked[index] = true` and subtract `nums[index]` from the `total_sum`.
- Step 6: Iterate through the sorted list of pairs, marking the `k` smallest unmarked elements. Use a `ptr` to keep track of the current position in the sorted list. For each unmarked element encountered, mark it, subtract its value from `total_sum`, and increment a `marked_count`.
- Step 7: Append the current `total_sum` to the answer array.
- Step 8: Return the answer array.
Key Insights
- Insight 1: Sorting the array is crucial for efficiently finding the smallest unmarked elements.
- Insight 2: Using a boolean array (or similar) to track marked elements avoids repeated calculations and ensures elements are only marked once.
- Insight 3: The total sum needs to be maintained and updated as elements are marked to efficiently calculate the sum of unmarked elements after each query.
Complexity Analysis
Time Complexity: O(q*n)
Space Complexity: O(n)
Topics
This problem involves: Array, Hash Table, Sorting, Heap (Priority Queue), Simulation.
Companies
Asked at: Barclays, Samsung.