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Make all Array elements equal by replacing consecutive occurrences of a number repeatedly

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Given an array arr[] of size N, the task is to find the minimum number of operations required to make all the array elements equal by following operation:

  1. Pick any number between 1 to N.
  2. Choose an element from the array,
  3. Replace all the consecutive equal elements with the picked number.

Example:

Input: arr[] = {1, 2, 5, 2, 1}, N = 5
Output: 2
Explanation: Following are the operations required to make all the elements in arr[] equal.
{1, 2, 2, 2, 1}, pick 2 and replace it with all consecutive 5s.
{1, 1, 1, 1, 1}, pick 1 and replace it with all consecutive 2s.
Therefore, Number of operations required = 2, which is minimum possible. 

Input: arr[] = {4, 4, 7, 4, 7, 7, 3, 3}, N = 7
Output: 3

 

Approach: This problem can be solved by using Dynamic Programming. The idea is to think of the order of vanishing elements within subinterval to the extreme. Within subinterval [l, r] there is the first time when the element at position r will vanish. And, at that point in time, there will be subinterval [i, r] of vanished elements. Those [i, r] were deleted in the fewest steps. Otherwise, we can reduce the number of steps. Also, in the previous step, the element at position r was existing. So, there are two possible cases:

  • Segment [i, r-1] was deleted already ⇢ means that a single element is deleted at position r, but this means we can first delete [l, r-1] segment instead, and then delete the single element at position r.
  • Segment [i+1, r-1] was deleted already ⇢ means that two elements are deleted at once: at positions r, and i. They have to be same elements.

Remove all consecutive duplicates in the initial array. 
Using the above idea, construct a 2D dp array where, dp[l][r] is equal to, number of steps needed to delete all elements within the range [l, r]. Then, the answer is (dp[0][n-1] – 1) ( in 0-based indexing), which is nothing but, deleting whole array minus one step.

  • The base case for our dp[][] is dp[i][i] = 1. (It take one step to delete an array of size 1)
  • for l < r, dp[l][r] will be initially set to dp[l][r-1] + 1.
  • for each element at position i with same value as element at position r, update dp[l][r] if dp[l][i-1] + dp[i, r] is less than current value of dp[l][r].

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++




// C++ program for the above approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to find the minimum number of
// operations required to make all the
// array elements equal
int minOperations(vector<int> arr, int N)
{
    vector<int> p(N + 1, -1);
    int j = 0;
 
    for (int i = 1; i < N; ++i) {
        if (arr[i] != arr[j]) {
            ++j;
            arr[j] = arr[i];
        }
    }
 
    N = j + 1;
    arr.resize(N);
 
    vector<vector<int> > dp(N, vector<int>(N));
    vector<int> b(N, -1);
 
    for (int j = 0; j < N; ++j) {
        dp[j][j] = 1;
 
        b[j] = p[arr[j]];
        p[arr[j]] = j;
 
        for (int i = j - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
            int d = dp[i][j - 1] + 1;
 
            for (int k = b[j]; k > i; k = b[k]) {
                d = min(d, dp[i][k - 1] + dp[k][j]);
            }
            if (arr[i] == arr[j]) {
                d = min(d, dp[i + 1][j]);
            }
            dp[i][j] = d;
        }
    }
    // Return the answer
    return dp[0][N - 1] - 1;
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    vector<int> arr = { 1, 2, 5, 2, 1 };
    int N = arr.size();
 
    cout << minOperations(arr, N);
 
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java code for the above approach
import java.util.*;
 
class GFG
{
   
    // Function to find the minimum number of
    // operations required to make all the
    // array elements equal
    static int minOperations(int[] arr, int N)
    {
        int p[] = new int[N + 1];
        Arrays.fill(p, -1);
        int j = 0;
 
        for (int i = 1; i < N; ++i) {
            if (arr[i] != arr[j]) {
                ++j;
                arr[j] = arr[i];
            }
        }
 
        N = j + 1;
        int[][] dp = new int[N][N];
        int[] b = new int[N];
        Arrays.fill(b, -1);
 
        for (j = 0; j < N; ++j) {
            dp[j][j] = 1;
 
            b[j] = p[arr[j]];
            p[arr[j]] = j;
 
            for (int i = j - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
                int d = dp[i][j - 1] + 1;
 
                for (int k = b[j]; k > i; k = b[k]) {
                    d = Math.min(d,
                                 dp[i][k - 1] + dp[k][j]);
                }
                if (arr[i] == arr[j]) {
                    d = Math.min(d, dp[i + 1][j]);
                }
                dp[i][j] = d;
            }
        }
       
        // Return the answer
        return dp[0][N - 1] - 1;
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int[] arr = { 1, 2, 5, 2, 1 };
        int N = arr.length;
 
        System.out.println(minOperations(arr, N));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by Potta Lokesh


Python3




# python program for the above approach
 
# Function to find the minimum number of
# operations required to make all the
# array elements equal
def minOperations(arr, N):
 
    p = [-1 for _ in range(N + 1)]
    j = 0
 
    for i in range(1, N):
        if (arr[i] != arr[j]):
            j += 1
            arr[j] = arr[i]
 
    N = j + 1
    arr = arr[:N]
 
    dp = [[0 for _ in range(N)] for _ in range(N)]
    b = [-1 for _ in range(N)]
 
    for j in range(0, N):
        dp[j][j] = 1
 
        b[j] = p[arr[j]]
        p[arr[j]] = j
 
        for i in range(j-1, -1, -1):
            d = dp[i][j - 1] + 1
 
            k = b[j]
            while k > i:
                d = min(d, dp[i][k - 1] + dp[k][j])
                k = b[k]
 
            if (arr[i] == arr[j]):
                d = min(d, dp[i + 1][j])
 
            dp[i][j] = d
 
        # Return the answer
    return dp[0][N - 1] - 1
 
# Driver Code
if __name__ == "__main__":
 
    arr = [1, 2, 5, 2, 1]
    N = len(arr)
 
    print(minOperations(arr, N))
 
    # This code is contributed by rakeshsahni


C#




// C# code for the above approach
using System;
using System.Collections;
class GFG
{
 
    // Function to find the minimum number of
    // operations required to make all the
    // array elements equal
    static int minOperations(int[] arr, int N)
    {
        int[] p = new int[N + 1];
        Array.Fill(p, -1);
        int j = 0;
 
        for (int i = 1; i < N; ++i)
        {
            if (arr[i] != arr[j])
            {
                ++j;
                arr[j] = arr[i];
            }
        }
 
        N = j + 1;
        int[,] dp = new int[N, N];
        int[] b = new int[N];
        Array.Fill(b, -1);
 
        for (j = 0; j < N; ++j)
        {
            dp[j, j] = 1;
 
            b[j] = p[arr[j]];
            p[arr[j]] = j;
 
            for (int i = j - 1; i >= 0; --i)
            {
                int d = dp[i, j - 1] + 1;
 
                for (int k = b[j]; k > i; k = b[k])
                {
                    d = Math.Min(d, dp[i, k - 1] + dp[k, j]);
                }
                if (arr[i] == arr[j])
                {
                    d = Math.Min(d, dp[i + 1, j]);
                }
                dp[i, j] = d;
            }
        }
 
        // Return the answer
        return dp[0, N - 1] - 1;
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void Main()
    {
        int[] arr = { 1, 2, 5, 2, 1 };
        int N = arr.Length;
 
        Console.Write(minOperations(arr, N));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by gfgking


Javascript




<script>
// Javascript program for the above approach
 
 
// Function to find the minimum number of
// operations required to make all the
// array elements equal
function minOperations(arr, N) {
  let p = new Array(N + 1).fill(-1);
  let j = 0;
 
  for (let i = 1; i < N; ++i) {
    if (arr[i] != arr[j]) {
      ++j;
      arr[j] = arr[i];
    }
  }
 
  N = j + 1;
  arr.slice(0, N);
 
  let dp = new Array(N).fill(0).map(() => new Array(N))
  let b = new Array(N).fill(-1);
 
  for (let j = 0; j < N; ++j) {
    dp[j][j] = 1;
 
    b[j] = p[arr[j]];
    p[arr[j]] = j;
 
    for (let i = j - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
      let d = dp[i][j - 1] + 1;
 
      for (let k = b[j]; k > i; k = b[k]) {
        d = Math.min(d, dp[i][k - 1] + dp[k][j]);
      }
      if (arr[i] == arr[j]) {
        d = Math.min(d, dp[i + 1][j]);
      }
      dp[i][j] = d;
    }
  }
  // Return the answer
  return dp[0][N - 1] - 1;
}
 
// Driver Code
 
let arr = [1, 2, 5, 2, 1];
let N = arr.length;
 
document.write(minOperations(arr, N));
 
// This code is contributed by gfgking.
</script>


Output

2

Time Complexity: O(N3
Auxiliary Space: O(N2)



Last Updated : 16 Jun, 2022
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