n0sk1ll's blog

By n0sk1ll, history, 3 years ago, In English

1898A - Milica and String

Author: n0sk1ll

Hint
Solution
Bonus

1898B - Milena and Admirer

Author: OutrunMyGun & n0sk1ll

Hint
Solution
Bonus

1898C - Colorful Grid

Author: n0sk1ll

Hint
Solution
Bonus

1898D - Absolute Beauty

Author: n0sk1ll

Hint
Solution
Bonus

1898E - Sofia and Strings

Author: OutrunMyGun

Hint
Solution
Bonus

1898F - Vova Escapes the Matrix

Author: n0sk1ll

Hint
Solution
Bonus
  • Vote: I like it
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  • Vote: I do not like it

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +25 Vote: I do not like it

Lightning speed editorial!

Thanks for the greatly balanced round !

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Rev. 3  
Vote: I like it -39 Vote: I do not like it

Can't say it's a good competition

P.S. Why is there no implementation?

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Hello! Can someone explain the bug in my code at this submission? I really can't find it after spending hours on it and it's really annoying me. Thanks!

233462452

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
    Rev. 3  
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    I think this is a breaking testcase: NIL (sorry false statement, but it was what broke my code which failed on testcase 3 also)

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
    Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

    Here is a test case that fails:

    3
    4 12 5
    

    Your code outputs 3, but the correct answer should be 2. Split the 12 into 8+4, then split the produced 8 into 4+4. After two splits, the resulting array is [4, 4, 4, 4, 5]

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      Even I was getting the same wrong answer. Thanks for pointing out the mistake!

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Delete

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Thanks for preparing the editorial beforehand! I'm seeing a pattern of this, hopefully it will be the norm soon.

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Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

E = obvious treap: 233471686

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Vote: I like it -17 Vote: I do not like it

problem B only has around 2500-2600 solves accepted solves. Div2B shouldnt have this low solves. I didnt like this round.

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
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    i did solve B and i am still wondering why so many less solves i mean it is not that hard after all just gotta start thinking from the end of the array and working with greeedy solutin that's it

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B problem -- SEE HERE

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[redacted]

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    They are not misplaced, they allow to do a "detour" of size 2: at position (n-2, m-1) (counting from 0), you go left, then down, then right instead of just going down.

    The first loop (top left) is to do cycles of 4 or multiples. And together, you can make "detours" of length 2,4,6,8,10,... By detour I mean additional steps compared to doing only n-1 + m-1 steps (the fastest trip from top left to bottom right).

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      2 years ago, hide # ^ |
       
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      Ohh yeah that makes sense. Sorry.

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      2 years ago, hide # ^ |
       
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      cant you just use top left loop for 2 also i mean only 2 additioanal sides are only added if you go downfirst

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        2 years ago, hide # ^ |
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        Smart idea! Going clockwise (in cycle) for "detours" that are multiple of 4, going counter clockwise for "detours" like 2 + 4*k with k being integer. We don't even need a cycle bottom right, you are right!

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why B is too hard?

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    Because it is greedy algorithm, as I can see

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      2 years ago, hide # ^ |
       
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      Thinking about the solution (like the greedy approach) was very easy in my opinion it was the implementation that was hard and required concentration and patience

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Will you add solutions in Russian?

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Fun fact: we wanted put this D(but with minimisation) to our div.3 as F, but tester have seen it before and we removed it :)

n0sk1ll OutrunMyGun

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +12 Vote: I do not like it

Really like the idea behind the Problem D. There was similar problem in the contest before, back then it was impossible to figure out by myself, but now I got it.

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Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

When I registered for this round, I thought I was registering for Div 2, not Educational

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Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

Why is this editorial downvoted? Is it because problem B is repeated (from what I've read in some comments)?

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A < C < E < D < B

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.

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what a fantastic well-made problems ?? I'm really impressed and horribly depressed ....

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why this is wrong for the first test case in problem C ?

YES
R B R B 
B R B R 
R B R B 
B R B R 
R R B R B 
B B R B R 
R R B R B
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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    Better question, why do you think it is correct? Can you outline the path of length 11 from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner? Personally, I'm not able to see such a path. The closest I can see travels the left edge and then the bottom edge, and then takes a detour near the end, but the colors on the last two edges do not allow for such a detour. Can you elaborate on what path you had in mind?

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Vote: I like it -36 Vote: I do not like it

Very balanced problems! (sarcasm)

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didn't my favorite one.

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im dumb and i apologize

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Vote: I like it +19 Vote: I do not like it

B appeared as a subproblem in a different problem (https://mirror.codeforces.com/contest/1603/problem/C), and n0sk1ll even solved it during the contest (https://mirror.codeforces.com/contest/1603/submission/133683209).

Any comments from the authors?

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    wow such an amazing round, problem b appearing two other problems, one of them is sub-problem the other is the exact copy

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
    Vote: I like it +9 Vote: I do not like it

    Can one of the authors respond? Like, isn't it a serious accusation? Did the coordinator know about that?

    n0sk1ll OutrunMyGun

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

I am very sad to find B in this contest is exactly same to this 2366. Minimum Replacements to Sort the Array ,a problem in LeetCode.And there are many people having Accept it but I haven't

What makes me even sadder is that I spent too much time on question B, which caused me to AC on question D one minute after the competition.

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    ".And there are many people having Accept it but I haven't" not because you were unable to solve it means everybody who got AC had already seen the problem besides B is not that hard if you are specialist you gotta solve it iwas gray before this contest and i have solved it, besides the fact that it lost youu a lot of time is because of your bad time management

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I'm gonna be honest, C was excruciatingly painful. The idea was simple but the implementation was awful.

I feel like a much more natural way to do D is as follows:

Let $$$S = \sum_\limits{i=1}^n |a_i - b_i|$$$, then a swap of two elements of $$$b$$$ at indices $$$i,j$$$ is equivalent to $$$S \to S + |a_j - b_i| + |a_i - b_j| - |a_i - b_i| - |a_j - b_j|$$$

$$$S$$$ is clearly invariant, so to maximise $$$S + |a_j - b_i| + |a_i - b_j| - |a_i - b_i| - |a_j - b_j|$$$, it suffices to maximise $$$|a_j - b_i| + |a_i - b_j| - |a_i - b_i| - |a_j - b_j|$$$.

We can iterate over $$$i$$$ and find the best $$$j \lt i$$$ that maximises the above, and then take max over all $$$i$$$. If we are at index $$$i$$$, then $$$|a_j - b_i| + |a_i - b_j| - |a_i - b_i| - |a_j - b_j| = |a_j - B| + |b_j - A| - C - |a_j - b_j|$$$, where $$$A,B,C$$$ are known "constants".

Then, we just need to maximise $$$|a_j - B| + |b_j - A| - |a_j - b_j|$$$. The way I thought to do this was to just use the fact that $$$x \leqslant |x|$$$, so

$$$(a_j - B) + (b_j - A) - |a_j - b_j| \leqslant |a_j - B| + |b_j - A| - |a_j - b_j|$$$

$$$(a_j - B) + (-b_j + A) - |a_j - b_j| \leqslant |a_j - B| + |b_j - A| - |a_j - b_j|$$$

$$$(-a_j + B) + (b_j - A) - |a_j - b_j| \leqslant |a_j - B| + |b_j - A| - |a_j - b_j|$$$

$$$(-a_j + B) + (-b_j + A) - |a_j - b_j| \leqslant |a_j - B| + |b_j - A| - |a_j - b_j|$$$

So I made 4 arrays that stored each type of modified element, then just took the cumulative max up to index $$$i-1$$$ (i.e. $$$\max(\text{arr}[0:i-1])$$$) of all 4 arrays at each index to find the best configuration, and added in the constants later.

233479793

(I don't think this idea works for the min variant, i.e. minimise the score when swapped)

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im dumb and i apologize

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
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Your solution for 1898C — Colorful Grid does not work for the edge case m=2, k=(m-1+n-1)+2

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
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The C question was retarded. If you keep an implementation question try to keep it so that atleast some good pattern shows up.

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +51 Vote: I do not like it

Why so many dislikes? Problems are hard but good.

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
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Problem B and D is repeated.Also a poor distribution of problems

I have a question. What did you learn from this contest guys?

Please encourage people to solve problems.

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    I learned a lot from C. Mainly because I thought it would be smart to use two 2-dimensional arrays to calculate the solution and then output them.

    Only using one 2-dimensional array is a lot easier though. Easier to debug, easier to fill and not harder to output.

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E could have been better, a little bit too detailed sample testcases for a div2E.

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Can someone tell me why I got 'Idleness limit exceeded' in my submission? I couldn't get it. Thanks!

233470642

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    Your code is a TLE but since you are using cerr, you are getting Idleness limit exceeded.

    Here it is without cerrs: 233490794

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Problem E is very similar to 1187D - Subarray Sorting, the idea behind both problems are just the same, E just need one more not-so-hard-to-see observation. I just added a few lines of code and got AC: 233489174, 233489126

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If you don't want to invent a new type of BFS for F but just want to use a normal BFS as a black box, you can still do it using a cool idea: we want to choose two exits and find distances from them to all points in the greed. Let's split all exits randomly into two types and run two different BFSs from the first exit and from the second exit. With probability $$$1/2$$$ our desired pair of exits will be in different groups, so we will find the answer. By repeating this process $$$T$$$ times for some constant $$$T$$$ we may bring the error probability down to $$$1/2^T$$$.

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
    Vote: I like it +61 Vote: I do not like it

    Maybe this solution can be improved to 0 error probability if we don't split exits randomly, instead we number each exit from $$$0$$$ to $$$n + m - 1$$$, then process $$$log_2(n+m)$$$ times, and for the $$$i$$$-th process, split those exits by $$$i$$$-th bit of their index. So that every pair of exits will be checked.

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      2 years ago, hide # ^ |
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      True, I did this in my solution and it worked, well I didn't split according to i-th bit

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      2 years ago, hide # ^ |
       
      Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

      Oh, yes, that's great. (I guess, there are at most $$$2 \cdot (n + m) - 4$$$ exits though but whatever).

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When submitting code, I observed that the speed of C's spj is very slow. Although the construction of C is indeed not difficult, I want to know how C's spj checks whether the construction scheme is correct. Does it find all the cycles? Thanks, n0sk1ll.

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    I am also interested in the bonus for Problem C (how to implement the checker for C).

    My initial idea is to split each node into two ones (red and blue, representing the color of the last edge traversed when reaching that node).

    The problem would then be transformed into: how to determine if there exists a path of length l between two specified points in a cyclic undirected graph. However, I haven't found a straightforward solution to solve this problem.

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    62 minutes ago, hide # ^ |
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    2 years late again but for anyone practicing past problems I think the answer is to think of it as a graph and then do matrix exponentiation / binary jumping DP.

    There are 512 states: you are at position (i, j) and must take either R or B edge next.

    Then if you represent it as a 512x512 matrix, you just have to do log(k) ~= 30 matrix multiplications. With bitset/AVX I think you can get this down to $$$O(\frac{n^3 \log k}{256})$$$ or $$$O(\frac{n^3 \log k}{64})$$$ which is approximately 16 to 64 million operations per test (but x 32 tests as well).

    There may be some more constant factor improvements. For example, if you take 2 moves at a time (solve twice for both first-moves if k is odd), then there are only 128 states, since you can only get to half of the points, and you'll always be in the same color. The runtime would then be improved by 32x (2x worse for two solves, but 64x speedup by reducing states by 4x).

    I also think a complete-search style solution like this one is the best you can do. While it feels like the graph / finding cycles structure might make things easier, I can also imagine inputs with cycles chained together where you kind of have to solve a subset sum problem to get exactly k when you reach the end where you can't do more clever tricks.

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Solution for D

Code

submission 233513167

Can someone help with the proof of this solution!

i generalized all cases as A1<=B2 and A2>=B1

after swapping the contribution is(b2 - a1) + (a2 - b1) - abs(a1-b1) - abs(a2-b2)

= b2+a2-abs(a2-b2) - (b1+a1+abs(a1-b1))

MAX( b2+a2-abs(a2-b2)) - MIN(b1+a1+abs(a1-b1)) => ans

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    The proof is almost complete.

    Since the left and right terms are independent, they can be computed separately, and later combined to optimize the solution **** Think of having one loop for MAX and another for MIN. Since you want to maximize contributions, you want the to take the best combination (keeping track of max for all i).

    Might be easier to grasp if you convert the MIN into a max of the negative value. See: https://mirror.codeforces.com/contest/1898/submission/233522779

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There is a no brainer solution for problem D. We can use the idea from https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/maximum-value-arri-arrj-j/.

My submission:https://mirror.codeforces.com/contest/1898/submission/233490749

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This contest stole some problem. It is stupid and should be unrated.

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    I've seen in your account that you didn't join the contest. If you don't support the writers of this contest, do not make them feel bad. They poured their heart in the contest, and they do not need to suffer more. Comment responsibly or don't comment at all. Roasting the writers is not a good thing to do and no one should do it. I love the CF community but I hope the community keeps itself in order and to punish any members that doesn't support the community.

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Solution to bonus A: Only 1 operation.

Let numb be the number of letters of B in string S

Case1: if numb = k -> 0 operations needed

Case2: if numb < k -> 1 operation, iterate over every position in string, if A -> B, numb + 1 until numb = k

Case2: if numb > k -> 1 operation, iterate over string and any letter B change to A and numb-- until numb = k

Maximum 1 operation

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Will be russian translations?

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n0sk1ll, can you please tell why in 1898F - Vova Escapes the Matrix, it will always be optimal to find shortest path to 2 exit points in the 3rd type matrix??

Because , cannot there be a such construction of matrix where the shortest path to 2 closest exit points can flow the path in such a way that later on we will not be able to put maximum obstacles in remaining blocks ??

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    2 years ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    We will fill all the cells that are not part of at least 1 path. Therefore, we need the least amount of cells empty, but they need to form at least 2 exit paths.

    I might have not understood your question correctly, if that is the case, please let me know.

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      2 years ago, hide # ^ |
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      NemanjaSo2005, thanks for the reply.

      But, what I am asking is that how we are so sure that the shortest path to 2 closest exist points will be optimal.

      Because I am thinking cannot there be such a matrix which is constructed such that , in reaching those closest points you got to fill the maximum cells in the grid later and that will not be optimal then.

      And it can be rephrased also in the other way that " Cannot there be a path to some not closest points that can make the final answer optimal.(because in that unique construction of matrix the path to that not closest path is not very concentrated with initial obstacles compared to the path to closest exit points" I.e. will be able to fill out maximum cells with obstacle.

      Can there such a case exist ? Because greedy have to be true for all the possible cases that's why I asked the doubt ?

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        2 years ago, hide # ^ |
         
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        NemanjaSo2005, I think my assumption will be wrong then ,the path I have said to the closest exit point will not be shortest then. And will become wrong by contradiction.

        But , however can you please still clarify. It will be very helpful.

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          2 years ago, hide # ^ |
           
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          The optimal path goes from Vova's cell to some other with shortest path. From that cell, there is a divergence to 2 paths, each being shortest path to some edge. Just draw a few matrices and you can make sure yourself that it is the case.

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Well B is just a leetcode problem.

Link

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Thanks for the fast editorial.

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greedy algorithm is so hard

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How to solve F's Bonus? The graph truly look like a LCA problem but I cannot find a way to construct the tree. I have tried to construct the tree by the distance from the start point, but i failed. Cound someone give me a idea? It's better to use the following graph as an example.

7 5
#####
#.V.#
#.#.#
#.#.#
#.#.#
#...#
#.#.#

Sorry for poor English expression.

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Where can i attempt bonus problem??

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C, i am getting this error on testcase 1:wrong answer Token parameter [name=answer] equals to "R", doesn't correspond to pattern "[Yy][Ee][Ss]|[Nn][Oo]" (test case 5)

my answer for 5th test case which is 4 4 8 is ~~~~~

YES R B R R R R B B B B B B B B B B B B B R B B R B ~~~~~

there's a path which follows. -> -> -> v v <- v ->

233730117

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Any idea to solve the bonus for problem B? Thanks in advance!

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ELDRVD and nosk1ll , would you please tell how to solve bonus part of problem B?

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I think for the bonus part of problem C , We can use meet in the middle concept.

K-(n+m) is odd or negative then no solution exit.

k-(n+m) is multiple of 6 then k = n+m+6

k-(n+m) is multiple of 4 then k = n+m+4

k-(n+m) is multiple of 2 then k = n+m+2

Now k can be at max 38.

Use meet in the middle concept here. Find number of nodes({point,last edge as red or blue}) where it can end starting from (1,1) and (n,m). And then take intersection. If null color pattern is bad, else it is good enough is have atleast one path.

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how to solve bonus problem E?

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Can someone intuitively explain why it's okay to swap a[i] and b[i] in problem D? I did some casework and am convinced that it is correct, but I can't wrap my head around it intuitively.

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I have no idea why my solution 241233386 doesn't work for 1898D - Absolute Beauty. Please point out the issue. Thank you!

[Explanation] Let $$$S = \sum{|a_i - b_i|}$$$. This represents the initial absolute beauty. Let $$$S(i, j)$$$ denote the beauty after swapping elements at indices $$$i$$$ and $$$j$$$. We can express $$$S(i, j) = S + \delta(i, j)$$$, where

$$$\delta(i, j) = |a_i - b_j| + |a_j - b_i| - |a_i - b_i| - |a_j - b_j|.$$$

Hence, it suffices to maximize $$$\delta(i, j)$$$. Now, fixing index $$$i$$$ and considering $$$\delta(i, j)$$$ as a function of $$$j$$$, we can identify four possible expressions after removing absolute value brackets:

$$$\delta(i, j) = \alpha_1 a_j + \beta_1,$$$
$$$\delta(i, j) = \alpha_2 b_j + \beta_2,$$$
$$$\delta(i, j) = \alpha_3 (a_j + b_j) + \beta_3,$$$
$$$\delta(i, j) = \alpha_4 (a_j - b_j) + \beta_4,$$$

where $$$a_k$$$ and $$$b_k$$$ are constants. Each expression can be regarded as a linear function of the variables $$$a_j$$$, $$$b_j$$$, $$$a_j + b_j$$$, and $$$a_j - b_j$$$, respectively. Since a linear function within an interval takes its maximum at either endpoint, the candidates for $$$(a_j, b_j)$$$ to maximize $$$\delta(i, j)$$$ are at most 8. (Candidates are to maximize $$$a_j$$$, $$$b_j$$$, $$$a_j + b_j$$$, or $$$a_j - b_j$$$, or to minimize one of them). These candidates remain invariant even when iterating over $$$i$$$. Therefore, it is sufficient to iterate over $$$i$$$, check $$$8N$$$ pairs of $$$(i, j)$$$, and calculate $$$\delta(i, j)$$$ straightforwardly.

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2 years ago, hide # |
 
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anyone can give hint for bonus problem in B

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7 weeks ago, hide # |
 
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OutrunMyGun I think you wanted to mention $$$s_{i_2}$$$ instead of $$$t_{i_2}$$$ in the above editorial of the question 1898E - Sofia and Strings. The editorial says

We need to prove that if we can move $$${s_{j_1}}$$$ to position $$$i_1$$$ and $$$t_{i_2}$$$ to position $$$i_2$$$, when we can move $$$s_{j_2}$$$ to $$$i_1$$$ and $$$s_{j_1}$$$ to $$$i_2$$$

According to me, it should be-

We need to prove that if we can move $$${s_{j_1}}$$$ to position $$$i_1$$$ and $$$s_{i_2}$$$ to position $$$i_2$$$, when we can move $$$s_{j_2}$$$ to $$$i_1$$$ and $$$s_{j_1}$$$ to $$$i_2$$$.