Welcome to our blog, In this article, we will solve the problem of the "Book Allocation Problem." This challenge revolves around finding the most optimal strategy to allocate books while minimizing the number of pages involved. We will explore this mystery by exploring brute-force approaches and algorithms and their implementations. So, whether you're a reader desiring streamlined reading or starved for mental challenges, join us as we solve the art of allocating books with the goal of "allocating a minimum number of pages" in mind.
Let’s start our article with the problem statement.
You are given an array ‘pages’ of integer numbers. In this array, the ‘pages[i]’ represents the number of pages in the ‘i-th’ book. There are ‘m’ number of students, and the task is to allocate all the books to the students.
Allocate books in a way such that:
Each student gets at least one book.
Each book should be allocated to a student.
Book allocation should be in a contiguous manner.
You have to allocate the books to ‘m’ students such that the maximum number of pages assigned to a student is minimum.
Try to solve this problem on your own before moving on to further discussion here.
Let’s understand the problem statement through an example.
Example
Input
Number of books = 4 and Number of students = 2
pages[] = { 10,20,30,40}
Output
60
Explanation
All possible ways of book allocation are shown in the below figure-
The minimum of the maximum number of pages assigned = min{90,70,60} = 60. Hence, the required answer is 60.
Analysis
We have to minimize the value of the maximum number of pages assigned to a student during the allocation.
If the maximum number of pages assigned to a student in a book allocation is a number x, then the number of pages assigned to every student is less than or equal to x.
We have to assign at least one book to every student, so there can’t be any allocation such that a student gets no books assigned.
While allocating the books, no book should be left out. In other words, we have to allocate every book given.
Allocate in a contiguous manner. Let's say; for example, you have to allocate three books to a student from pages[] = { 10,20,30,40}. Then, the possible allocations can be - {10,20,30} and {20,30,40}. You can’t allocate {10,30,40} as it is not contiguous.
Brute force Approach
Algorithm
Let N be the number of books and M the number of students.
In the case of M > N:
Simply return -1 as the number of students exceeds the number of books available. According to the given constraints, giving at least one book to each student is impossible.
Let’s see the algorithm for all other cases where M<=N:
For all of these cases, we will try to find all possible values of the number of pages that can be assigned to a student.
The minimum value should be greater than 0 (In this problem, you must assign each student at least one book, so the number of pages can't be zero).
The maximum number of pages will be the sum of the number of pages in all books. (This will happen when you assign all the books to one student).
The range of the maximum number of pages we obtained is - (0, sum of all the values of pages array]. Open interval on 0 because at least one book needs to be assigned to every student. So, we get the interval [1, sum of pages array].
Steps of Algorithm
Iterate over all values of the number of pages(say x) ranging from x = 1 to x = sum of elements in the pages array.
Check if it is possible to allocate the books such that the value of the number of pages assigned to any student is less than or equal to x in each iteration.
If the maximum number of pages equals x, then return x as the answer. We don’t need to iterate further because the value of x will increase after this. But, we are interested in finding the minimum value of the maximum number of pages that can be allocated.
How to check if it is possible to allocate the books such that the maximum number of pages assigned to any student is x?
Initialize the count of students with 1.
Keep allocating the books to a student until the sum of the pages assigned is less than x.
If at any point the number of pages assigned to a student exceeds x, then allocate the current book to the next student and increment the count of students.
If the count for the number of students exceeds M, then return false.
At the end, if the count of students is equal to M, return true.
Implementation
C++
Java
Python
C++
/* C++ code for Book Allocation problem to find the minimum value of the maximum number of pages */ #include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std;
/* function to check if it is possible to allocate the books such that the maximum number of pages assigned to any student is numPages */
bool isPossible(int pages[], int n, int m, int numPages) { int cntStudents = 1; int curSum = 0; for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { if (pages[i] > numPages) { return false; } if (curSum + pages[i] > numPages) {
//Increment student count by '1' cntStudents += 1;
//assign current book to next student and update curSum curSum = pages[i];
//If count of students becomes greater than given no. of students, return False if (cntStudents > m) { return false; } } else { //Else assign this book to current student and update curSum. curSum += pages[i]; } } return true; } int allocateBooks(int pages[], int n, int m) { //If number student is more than number of books. if (n < m) { return -1; }
//Count total number of pages. int sum = 0; for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { sum += pages[i]; }
//Check for every possible value. for (int numPages = 1; numPages <= sum; numPages++) { if (isPossible(pages, n, m, numPages)) { return numPages; } } return -1; } int main() { int n = 4; int m = 2; int pages[] = {10, 20, 30, 40}; cout << "The minimum value of the maximum number of pages in book allocation is: " << allocateBooks(pages, n, m) << endl; }
Java
public class Main { /* function to check if it is possible to allocate the books such that the maximum number of pages assigned to any student is numPages */ static boolean isPossible(int arr[], int n, int m, int curr_min) { int cntStudents = 1; int curSum = 0; // iterate over all the books for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { if (arr[i] > curr_min) return false; if (curSum + arr[i] > curr_min) {
//Increment student count by '1' cntStudents++;
//assign current book to next student and update curSum. curSum = arr[i];
//If count of students becomes greater than given no. of students, return False. if (cntStudents > m) return false; } //Else assign this book to current student and update curSum. else curSum += arr[i]; } return true; }
// method to find minimum number of pages static int findPages(int arr[], int n, int m) { long sum = 0; //If number student is more than number of books. if (n < m) return -1;
//Count total number of pages. for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) sum += arr[i];
for (int numPages = 1; numPages <= sum; numPages++) { if (isPossible(arr, n, m, numPages)) { return numPages; } } return -1; }
public static void main(String[] args) { int arr[] = {10, 20, 30, 40}; int m = 2; //No. of students int n = 4; System.out.println("The minimum value of the maximum number of pages in book allocation is: " + findPages(arr, n, m)); } }
Python
def isPossible(arr, n, m, curr_min): cntStudents = 1 curSum = 0 # iterate over all the books for i in range(n): if (arr[i] > curr_min): return False # Increment student count by '1' if (curSum + arr[i] > curr_min): cntStudents += 1 # assign current book to next student and update curSum curSum = arr[i]
''' If count of students becomes greater than given no. of students, return False update curSum '''
if (cntStudents > m): return False else: curSum += arr[i] return True # function to find minimum number pages def allocateBooks(arr, n, m): sum = 0 # If number student is more than number of books if (n < m): return -1 # Count total number of pages for i in range(n): sum += arr[i]
for numPages in range(1, sum+1): ans = isPossible(arr, n, m, numPages) if (ans): return numPages return -1
# Number of pages in books arr = [10, 20, 30, 40] n = len(arr) m = 2 # No. of students print("The minimum value of the maximum number of pages in book allocation is:", allocateBooks(arr, n, m))
Output
Time Complexity
The time complexity for the above code is O(n*Sum), where ‘n’ is the number of integers in the array ‘pages’ and ‘Sum’ is the sum of all the elements of ‘pages’.
We are using two nested loops of size, ‘Sum’ and ‘n.’ So, the time complexity is O(n*Sum).
Space Complexity
The space complexity of the above code is O(1), as we are using constant space.
Binary Search Approach
For this approach, we have the intuition to use binary search to search for the best possible answer. Also, take less time than the above-discussed approach.
Algorithm
The idea of this algorithm is to use binary search over the search space [1, Sum of pages array] to improve the time complexity since we are limiting our search space to half each time.
Steps of algorithm
We initially have ‘start = 0’ and ‘end = sum of all pages.’
Then our next step is to find mid = (start+end)/2.
Then we check if it is possible to allocate books such that the number of pages allocated to each student is less than or equal to mid.
If possible, then:
We update the minimum answer found so far and put end = mid-1.
Since we need the minimum value of the maximum number of pages, the end is set as mid-1. We do so to reduce our search space for the next iteration to [start,mid-1] and to get a value less than mid.
Else
We update start = mid+1. Since it is impossible to allocate the books with maximum pages equal to mid; so it won’t be possible for any value less than mid. So, the search space becomes [mid+1, end].
Repeat the above steps until start <= end.
Implementation
C++
Java
Python
C++
/* C++ code for Book Allocation problem to find the minimum value of the maximum number of pages */ #include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std;
/* function to check if it is possible to allocate the books such that the maximum number of pages assigned to any student is numPages */ bool isPossible(int pages[], int n, int m, int numPages) { int cntStudents = 1; int curSum = 0; for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { if (pages[i] > numPages) { return false; } if (curSum + pages[i] > numPages) {
//Increment student count by '1'. cntStudents += 1;
//assign current book to next student and update curSum. curSum = pages[i];
//If count of students becomes greater than given no. of students, return False. if (cntStudents > m) { return false; } } else {
//Else assign this book to current student and update curSum. curSum += pages[i]; } } return true; }
int allocateBooks(int pages[], int n, int m) {
//If number student is more than number of books. if (n < m) { return -1; }
//Count total number of pages. int sum = 0; for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { sum += pages[i]; }
//Initialize start with 0 and end with sum. int start = 0, end = sum; int result = INT_MAX;
//Traverse until start <= end , binary search. while (start <= end) {
/* Checking if it is possible to distribute books by using mid as current maximum */ int mid = start + (end - start) / 2; if (isPossible(pages, n, m, mid)) { result = min(result, mid); end = mid - 1; } else { start = mid + 1; } } return result; } int main() { int n = 4; int m = 2; int pages[] = {10, 20, 30, 40}; cout << "The minimum value of the maximum number of pages in book allocation is: " << allocateBooks(pages, n, m) << endl; }
Java
public class Main {
/* function to check if it is possible to allocate the books such that the maximum number of pages assigned to any student is numPages */
static boolean isPossible(int arr[], int n, int m, int curr_min) { int cntStudents = 1;
int curSum = 0;
// iterate over all the books
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { if (arr[i] > curr_min) return false;
if (curSum + arr[i] > curr_min) { //Increment student count by '1'
cntStudents++;
// assign current book to next student and update curSum.
curSum = arr[i];
// If count of students becomes greater than given no. of students, return False.
if (cntStudents > m) return false; }
//Else assign this book to current student and update curSum. else curSum += arr[i]; }
return true; }
// method to find minimum number of pages
static int findPages(int arr[], int n, int m) { long sum = 0;
//If number student is more than number of books.
if (n < m) return -1;
//Count total number of pages.
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) sum += arr[i];
//Initialize start with 0 and end with sum.
int start = 0, end = (int) sum;
int result = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
//Traverse until start <= end , binary search.
while (start <= end) { /* Checking if it is possible to distribute books by using mid as current maximum */
int mid = (start + end) / 2;
if (isPossible(arr, n, m, mid)) { result = mid;
end = mid - 1; } else start = mid + 1; }
return result; }
public static void main(String[] args) { int arr[] = { 10, 20, 30, 40 };
int m = 2; //No. of students
int n = 4;
System.out.println( "The minimum value of the maximum number of pages in book allocation is: " + findPages(arr, n, m) ); } }
Python
import sys
# function to check if it is possible to allocate the books # such that the maximum number of pages assigned to any student is numPages def isPossible(pages, n, m, numPages): cntStudents = 1 curSum = 0 for i in range(n): # if a book has more pages than numPages, return False if pages[i] > numPages: return False
# if the current sum of pages exceeds numPages, # assign the current book to the next student and update curSum if curSum + pages[i] > numPages: cntStudents += 1 curSum = pages[i]
# if the count of students becomes greater than given no. of students, return False if cntStudents > m: return False else: # else assign this book to the current student and update curSum curSum += pages[i] return True
def allocateBooks(pages, n, m): # if number of students is more than number of books if n < m: return -1 sum = 0 for i in range(n): sum += pages[i] start = 0 end = sum result = sys.maxsize # traverse until start <= end , binary search while start <= end: mid = start + (end - start) // 2 # checking if it is possible to distribute books by using mid as current maximum if isPossible(pages, n, m, mid): result = min(result, mid) end = mid - 1 else: start = mid + 1 return result
n = 4 m = 2 pages = [10, 20, 30, 40] print("The minimum value of the maximum number of pages in book allocation is:", allocateBooks(pages, n, m))
Output
Time Complexity
The time complexity for the above algorithm is O(N*log(Sum)). Here ‘N’ is the number of integers in the array ‘pages,’ and ‘Sum’ is the sum of all the elements of ‘pages.’ For every number ‘mid,’ we have an iteration loop of size ‘N,’ and binary search takes ‘log(Sum)’ time. So, that makes the time complexity O(N*log(Sum)).
Space Complexity
The space complexity for the above algorithm is O(1), as we use constant space.
Binary search is an efficient algorithm for finding an item from a sorted list of items by repeatedly dividing the search interval in half. Each comparison allows the algorithm to eliminate half of the remaining possibilities.
What is the brute force approach to book allocation?
The brute force approach to book allocation involves all possible combinations of distributing books to readers, calculating the allocate minimum number of pages for each variety, and selecting the one with the minimum pages. This method is complete but needs more efficiency for large datasets.
What is the binary search approach's time complexity for the book allocation problem?
The time complexity of the binary search approach is O(n*log(Sum)). Here n is the number of elements in the array, and ‘Sum’ is the sum of elements in the array.
What technique does the binary search algorithm use?
The binary search algorithm uses the divide and conquer technique to efficiently locate a desired value within a sorted dataset by repeatedly splitting the search interval and reducing the search space.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned the application of binary search on the book allocation problem. We started with the naive approach and then moved to the optimal approach of binary search. We also learned about its implementation in popular programming languages and their complexity analysis.
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