How to Solve Minimum Cost to Merge Stones Problem
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Minimum Cost to Merge Stones
There are n piles of stones arranged in a row. The ith pile has stones[i] stones. A move consists of merging exactly k consecutive piles into one pile, and the cost of this move is equal to the total ...
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Understanding the Minimum Cost to Merge Stones Problem
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Problem Statement
There are n piles of stones arranged in a row. The ith pile has stones[i] stones. A move consists of merging exactly k consecutive piles into one pile, and the cost of this move is equal to the total number of stones in these k piles. Return the minimum cost to merge all piles of stones into one pile. If it is impossible, return -1.
Minimum Cost to Merge Stones
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Examples
stones = [3,2,4,1], k = 220We start with [3, 2, 4, 1]. We merge [3, 2] for a cost of 5, and we are left with [5, 4, 1]. We merge [4, 1] for a cost of 5, and we are left with [5, 5]. We merge [5, 5] for a cost of 10, and we are left with [10]. The total cost was 20, and this is the minimum possible.
stones = [3,2,4,1], k = 3-1After any merge operation, there are 2 piles left, and we can't merge anymore. So the task is impossible.
stones = [3,5,1,2,6], k = 325We start with [3, 5, 1, 2, 6]. We merge [5, 1, 2] for a cost of 8, and we are left with [3, 8, 6]. We merge [3, 8, 6] for a cost of 17, and we are left with [17]. The total cost was 25, and this is the minimum possible.
Constraints
n == stones.length1 <= n <= 301 <= stones[i] <= 1002 <= k <= 30How Interview Coder Helps with Leetcode Problems
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