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How to Solve Minimum Cost of Buying Candies With Discount Problem
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LeetCode ProblemMinimum Cost of Buying Candies With Discount
A shop is selling candies at a discount. For every two candies sold, the shop gives a third candy for free. The customer can choose any candy to take away for free as long as the cost of the chosen candy is less than or equal to the minimum cost of the two candies bought. Given a 0-indexed integer array cost, where cost[i] denotes the cost of the ith candy, return the minimum cost of buying all the candies.
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Problem Breakdown
Understanding the Minimum Cost of Buying Candies With Discount Problem
Let's break down this LeetCode problem and understand what makes it challenging in interview settings.
Problem Statement
A shop is selling candies at a discount. For every two candies sold, the shop gives a third candy for free. The customer can choose any candy to take away for free as long as the cost of the chosen candy is less than or equal to the minimum cost of the two candies bought. Given a 0-indexed integer array cost, where cost[i] denotes the cost of the ith candy, return the minimum cost of buying all the candies.
Examples
# Example 1
Input
cost = [1,2,3]
Output
5
# Example 2
Input
cost = [6,5,7,9,2,2]
Output
23
# Example 3
Input
cost = [5,5]
Output
10
Constraints
1 <= cost.length <= 100
1 <= cost[i] <= 100
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Solve Minimum Cost of Buying Candies With Discount — A shop is selling candies at a discount. For every two candies sold, the shop gi...
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def solve(input):
# Optimal O(n) solution
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Time: O(n) | Space: O(n)
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