awoo's blog

By awoo, history, 13 months ago, translation, In English

1901A - Line Trip

Idea: BledDest

Tutorial
Solution (Neon)

1901B - Chip and Ribbon

Idea: Roms

Tutorial
Solution (Roms)

1901C - Add, Divide and Floor

Idea: BledDest

Tutorial
Solution (awoo)

1901D - Yet Another Monster Fight

Idea: BledDest

Tutorial
Solution (vovuh)

1901E - Compressed Tree

Idea: BledDest

Tutorial
Solution (Neon)

1901F - Landscaping

Idea: adedalic

Tutorial
Solution (adedalic)
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13 months ago, # |
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In problem D, I am struggling to understand the statement. According to my perception, the answer to the first test case should be 7. I will choose i = 4. The chain of the indices to strike will be like 4->3->5->6->2->1. Please someone correct me.

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    13 months ago, # ^ |
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    The spell's power must cover the worst-case scenario, given the chosen location.

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      12 months ago, # ^ |
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      Worst case I don't get it. First Index will chosen same for best case and worst case ?

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      11 months ago, # ^ |
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      then if we consider i=1 as a case that x must be atleast 9 right?

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        10 months ago, # ^ |
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        you can actually choose the value of i, so despite x have to be 9 when i=1, you can choose other i instead of 1

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13 months ago, # |
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Reached Specialist, in this round.

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13 months ago, # |
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problem E is a art.

It takes a lot of effort to achieve perfection in whatever any direction.

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13 months ago, # |
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for C, if we have min = 2 & max = 11. since min is even then x=0 & min = 1, max = 5 now if I go according to the editorial. it would take a total of 4 steps (1,3 -> 1,2 -> 1,1). but when min = 1 & max =5, I can take x =0 and reduce in 1 step less (1,2 -> 1,1) total of 3.

am I missing something here?

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    13 months ago, # ^ |
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    Of course. When min=1 and you don't add 1 then 1/2 = 0

    It's easier to think about it another way: if max is odd then by adding anything will not gain any steps reduction.

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13 months ago, # |
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Problem D: If it's necessary to check all indices as a first target point (according to tutorial), then why problem statement says that "Vasya chooses the first target optimally"?

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    13 months ago, # ^ |
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    Vasya chooses the first target optimally

    How would you figure out the optimal first target without checking all indices as first target point?

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      13 months ago, # ^ |
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      Oh yeah.. I got it. We need to take the minimum of these max values for an optimal first target (if I'm not wrong).

      Thanks...

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      10 months ago, # ^ |
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      Can't he choose the max element as the 1st target?

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        10 months ago, # ^ |
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        That's not always optimal.

        4
        4 5 2 1
        

        If we start at monster $$$2$$$ with health $$$5$$$, the attack might take the path $$$2\rightarrow 3\rightarrow 4\rightarrow 1$$$ and we need to start with $$$x = 7$$$. If instead we start at monster $$$1$$$ with health $$$4$$$, we can start with $$$x = 6$$$.

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13 months ago, # |
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[Problem C] Can someone help me understand why choosing $$$x$$$ as the average between $$$max$$$ and $$$min$$$ (or $$$a$$$ and $$$b$$$) doesn't work?

I guess it has somethings to do with parities and rounding down, but I honestly cannot figure it out myself.

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    13 months ago, # ^ |
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    In addressing the question of why choosing $$$x$$$ as the average between the maximum ($$$b$$$) and minimum ($$$a$$$) values doesn't always yield the optimal result in problem C, it is essential to understand how the parity effects the calculations.

    We categorize the scenarios based on the parity of $$$a$$$, $$$b$$$, and $$$x$$$. By brute force, we identify eight possible parity combinations, but let's consider two illustrative examples:

    • When $$$a=2i$$$, $$$b=2j+1$$$ and $$$x=2k+1$$$, the difference is $$$\left\lfloor (b + x)/2\right\rfloor - \left\lfloor(a+x)/2\right\rfloor = j - i + 1$$$.

    • When $$$a=2i+1$$$, $$$b=2j$$$ and $$$x=2k+1$$$, the difference is $$$\left\lfloor (b + x)/2\right\rfloor - \left\lfloor(a+x)/2\right\rfloor = j - i - 1$$$.

    In the remaining six cases, the difference is $$$\left\lfloor (b + x)/2\right\rfloor - \left\lfloor(a+x)/2\right\rfloor = j - i$$$.

    The optimal strategy emerges from these calculations. Matching the parity of $$$x$$$ with $$$a$$$ tends to minimize the difference. This is because the difference doesn't depend on $$$k$$$ and different parity can lead to a larger difference when $$$a$$$ is even.

    Now, regarding your specific question, if $$$a=4i+1$$$ and $$$b=4j$$$, then choosing $$$x$$$ as the average, $$$x = \left\lfloor (a+b)/2\right\rfloor = 2(i + j) = 2k$$$, does not align with the optimal strategy. In this case, $$$x$$$ is even while $$$a$$$ is odd, and as we've established, matching their parities is crucial for optimality.

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      9 months ago, # ^ |
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      Can we also say as long as parity of a and x matches it doesn't matter whatever x is since difference is independent of k ?

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      8 months ago, # ^ |
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      Please take a look at my submission, I used the midpoint of the min and the max rounded up.

      Submission Number: 259266474

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13 months ago, # |
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Why there's a tag of binary seach in problem D: although it seems at first glance that we can go for a approach like BS. But then realised there's nothing to do with BS.

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13 months ago, # |
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Thanks for the fast editorial !

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13 months ago, # |
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13 months ago, # |
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For problem D, my after-contest solution only involved checking the first location, the last location, and the location with the monster that needs the most spell power to kill.

Submission: https://mirror.codeforces.com/contest/1901/submission/234308715

Is the test data weak, or is the strategy described above valid? Thanks.

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13 months ago, # |
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In problem D, according to my understanding the worst case for 2 1 5 6 4 3 should be 2->1->5->6->4->3 and that would not be possible with 8 damage ?

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    13 months ago, # ^ |
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    We are optimally selecting the start point, then we have to consider worst case after selecting start point

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13 months ago, # |
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nvm I set my dp = -1 if it's not visited but I forget that the dp might be negative

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12 months ago, # |
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There is a small error in the editorial for problem D. The minimum spell power needed is $$$\displaystyle \min (\max_{j = 1} ^{i - 1} a_j +(n - j), a_i, \max_{j = i + 1} ^ {n} a_j + (j - 1))$$$ instead of the original $$$\displaystyle \max (\max_{j = 1} ^{i - 1} a_j +(n - j), a_i, \max_{j = i + 1} ^ {n} a_j + (j - 1))$$$. Guess it's just a typo.

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    5 hours ago, # ^ |
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    comment your guess after running your code or dry run

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11 months ago, # |
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In Problem C, I was thinking in terms of binary representation. Taking x as the most appropriate number to shift the prefix of same bits to the right considering left as the largest similar bit (with all before it as same) but didn't went very far with it. Any suggestion with approach?

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10 months ago, # |
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For problen D, for this case

6

1 6 1 1 6 1 , the accepted ans is 10, but shouldn't it be 9?

1 6 1 1 6 1

5 6 7 8 9 4. <--- Like this?