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Practice Least Operators to Express Number

Read the task, work through the examples, and check your approach against the constraints. Use the original LeetCode task for coding and submissions.

Hard#964
LeetCode Problem

Least Operators to Express Number

MathDynamic ProgrammingMemoization

Problem Statement

Build an expression using repeated copies of x joined by binary +, -, *, or / operators so its value equals target. Division produces rational numbers. Parentheses and unary negation are forbidden, and multiplication and division take precedence over addition and subtraction. Return the fewest operators needed.

Source: Least Operators to Express Number on LeetCode. Use the original task for its coding environment and submissions.

Examples

# Example 1

Input
x = 3, target = 19
Output
5

# Example 2

Input
x = 5, target = 501
Output
8

# Example 3

Input
x = 100, target = 100000000
Output
3

Constraints

2 <= x <= 100
1 <= target <= 2 * 10^8

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