Codeforces Round #440 (Div. 2) B. Maximum of Maximums of Minimums

B. Maximum of Maximums of Minimums

Problem Statement

    You are given an array $a_1$, $a_2$, …, $a_n$ consisting of n integers, and an integer k. You have to split the array into exactly k non-empty subsegments. You’ll then compute the minimum integer on each subsegment, and take the maximum integer over the k obtained minimums. What is the maximum possible integer you can get?
    Definitions of subsegment and array splitting are given in notes.

Input

    The first line contains two integers n and k (1 ≤ k ≤ n ≤  $10^5$) — the size of the array a and the number of subsegments you have to split the array to.
    The second line contains n integers $a_1$,  $a_2$,  …,  $a_n$ ( - $10^9$  ≤  $a_i$ ≤  $10^9$).

Output

    Print single integer — the maximum possible integer you can get if you split the array into k non-empty subsegments and take maximum of minimums on the subsegments.

Examples

Example 1
    Input
        5 2
        1 2 3 4 5
    Output
        5
Example 2
    Input
        5 1
        -4 -5 -3 -2 -1
    Output
        -5

Note

    A subsegment [l,  r] (l ≤ r) of array a is the sequence $a_l$,  $a_{l+1}$,  …,  $a_r$.
    Splitting of array a of n elements into k subsegments [$l_1$, $r_1$], [$l_2$, $r_2$], …, [$l_k$, $r_k$] ($l_1$ = 1, $r_k$ = n, $l_i$ = $r_i$ - 1 + 1 for all i > 1) is k sequences ($a_{l_1}$, …, $a_{r_1}$), …, ($a_{l_k}$, …, $a_{r_k}$).
    In the first example you should split the array into subsegments [1, 4] and [5, 5] that results in sequences (1, 2, 3, 4) and (5). The minimums are min(1, 2, 3, 4) = 1 and min(5) = 5. The resulting maximum is max(1, 5) = 5. It is obvious that you can’t reach greater result.
    In the second example the only option you have is to split the array into one subsegment [1, 5], that results in one sequence ( - 4,  - 5,  - 3,  - 2,  - 1). The only minimum is min( - 4,  - 5,  - 3,  - 2,  - 1) =  - 5. The resulting maximum is  - 5.

题意

    给一组整数，把这个数组切成 k 段，要求这 k 段每段中所有数字的最小值的最大值最大，求出这个最大值。

思路

    这题可以通过分类讨论来做：当k=1时，很显然，输出数组的最小值就行了；当k>2时，也很显然，只要输出数组的最大值就行了，因为分成大于等于3段的数组，我们可以将最大值单独分成一份，这样不管其他怎么分答案永远是最大值。当k=2的时候，我们可以记录一下1~i和i~n两段的最小值，然后O(n)扫一遍就好了..不过k=2的时候还有更简单的方法，就是直接输出max(a[1],a[n])。可以发现，两段中必有一段含有数列的最小值，这一段的最小值是确定的。而这两段肯定分别包含一个端点，因此另一段的最小值不会小于端点值。可以发现，这个值一定能取到。因此，输出两个端点的最大值即可。

Code

#pragma GCC optimize(3)
#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
typedef long long ll;
inline void readInt(int &x) {
    x=0;int f=1;char ch=getchar();
    while(!isdigit(ch)){if(ch=='-')f=-1;ch=getchar();}
    while(isdigit(ch))x=x*10+ch-'0',ch=getchar();
    x*=f;
}
inline void readLong(ll &x) {
    x=0;int f=1;char ch=getchar();
    while(!isdigit(ch)){if(ch=='-')f=-1;ch=getchar();}
    while(isdigit(ch))x=x*10+ch-'0',ch=getchar();
    x*=f;
}
/*================Header Template==============*/
int n,k;
int arr[100002];
int main() {
    cin>>n>>k;
    for(int i=1;i<=n;i++)
        cin>>arr[i];
    if(k==1) {
        int mi=1e9+7;
        for(int i=1;i<=n;i++)
            mi=min(mi,arr[i]);
        cout<<mi<<endl;
        return 0;
    }
    else if(k==2) {
        int mipre[100002],mxpre[100002];
        for(int i=0;i<=n+1;i++) {
            mipre[i]=1e9+7;
            mxpre[i]=1e9+7;
        }
        for(int i=1;i<=n;i++)
            mipre[i]=min(mipre[i-1],arr[i]);
        for(int i=n;i>=1;i--)
            mxpre[i]=min(mxpre[i+1],arr[i]);
        int tmp=-(1e9+7);
        for(int i=1;i<=n-1;i++)
            tmp=max(tmp,max(mipre[i],mxpre[i+1]));
        cout<<tmp<<endl;
        return 0;
    }
    else {
        int mx=-(1e9+7);
        for(int i=1;i<=n;i++)
            mx=max(mx,arr[i]);
        cout<<mx<<endl;
        return 0;
    }
}