375. Guess Number Higher or Lower II -Medium

A# Question

We are playing the Guess Game. The game is as follows:

I pick a number from 1 to n. You have to guess which number I picked.

Every time you guess wrong, I’ll tell you whether the number I picked is higher or lower.

However, when you guess a particular number x, and you guess wrong, you pay $x. You win the game when you guess the number I picked.

Given a particular n ≥ 1, find out how much money you need to have to guarantee a win.

猜数字游戏，A在1-n中选择一个数字，当B猜中A选择的数字，B就赢得比赛。每当B猜错，A会告诉B是否太大还是太小，同时B要给A对应猜的数字的钱。现在给出n，请你找出你保证赢得比赛所需花费的最少的钱

Example

n = 10, I pick 8.

First round: You guess 5, I tell you that it’s higher. You pay $5.
Second round: You guess 7, I tell you that it’s higher. You pay $7.
Third round: You guess 9, I tell you that it’s lower. You pay $9.

Game over. 8 is the number I picked.

You end up paying 5 + 7 + 9 = 21.

这里的例子给出的21只是一种猜测情况所需的花费，而不是题目的答案

Solution

• 这道题可以用dp求解。题目求的是保证赢得比赛所需花费的最少的，即最坏的情况下，最少需要花多少钱保证赢得比赛。因为A会在1-n中任意选择一个数字x，而B直到猜到数字x时会有一个最大花费，那么我们只需求得到底A选择哪个数字时B猜测的最大花费最小，这样当A选该数字时，B总能保证在小于K的花费下获胜。（这里的最大花费指在策略最优，运气最差的情况下的花费）

• 根据上面的思路，我们定义dp[i][j]：在[i, j]范围中保证赢得游戏所需花费最少的钱。因为是最坏的情况，所以在策略最优的情况下，B始终不会猜中数字，那么当B猜数字x的情况下，子问题将会出现两种情况“猜的数字过小”，“猜的数字过大”，我们只需要比较出花费较多的情况即可，所以B猜数字x的最大花费为：B_Choose_X = x + max(dp[i][x - 1]， dp[x + 1][j])，在得到A选择任意x，B所需的最大花费时，dp[i][j] = min{B_Choose_1, B_Choose_2, …, B_Choose_N}

  class Solution(object):
      def getMoneyAmount(self, n):
          """
          :type n: int
          :rtype: int
          """
          self.dp = [[0 for _ in range(n + 1)] for _ in range(n + 1)]
          return self.solve(1, n)
  
      def solve(self, s, e):
          # 保存dp中间变量，减少重复计算
          if self.dp[s][e] != 0:
              return self.dp[s][e]
  
          # 如果只有一个数字可以选择，那么B肯定能猜中，不需要花费钱
          if s >= e: return 0
  
          min_cost = float('inf')
          # 计算A选择任一数字，B所需的最多的钱
          for x in range(s, e):
              max_cost = x + max(self.solve(s, x - 1), self.solve(x + 1, e))
              if min_cost > max_cost:
                  min_cost = max_cost
  
          # 取所需最少的钱的情况
          self.dp[s][e] = min_cost
          return self.dp[s][e]