LeetCode 72. Edit Distance（动态规划）

题目来源：https://leetcode.com/problems/edit-distance/

问题描述

72. Edit Distance

Hard

Given two words word1 and word2, find the minimum number of operations required to convert word1 to word2.

You have the following 3 operations permitted on a word:

1. Insert a character
2. Delete a character
3. Replace a character

Example 1:

Input: word1 = "horse", word2 = "ros"

Output: 3

Explanation:

horse -> rorse (replace 'h' with 'r')

rorse -> rose (remove 'r')

rose -> ros (remove 'e')

Example 2:

Input: word1 = "intention", word2 = "execution"

Output: 5

Explanation:

intention -> inention (remove 't')

inention -> enention (replace 'i' with 'e')

enention -> exention (replace 'n' with 'x')

exention -> exection (replace 'n' with 'c')

exection -> execution (insert 'u')

------------------------------------------------------------

题意

两个字符串的编辑距离：给定两个字符串s1, s2，定义三种操作：增（一个字符）、删（一个字符）、改（一个字符变另一字符），求从s1变到s2最少需要的操作次数？

------------------------------------------------------------

思路

注意到问题具有最优子结构（如果s1和s2的编辑距离是最小的，那么s1的子串和s2的子串，按照s1到s2的编辑方式，其编辑距离也是最小的），故可以用动态规划求解：dp[i][j]表示s1[0:i]到s2[0:j]的编辑距离。转移方程：

dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j-1],                                              if  s1[i-1] == s2[j-1]    ********** (1)

         = min(dp[i-1][j-1], dp[i][j-1], dp[i-1][j]) + 1,   if  s1[i-1] != s2[j-1]     ********** (2)

（注意到“增”“删”是等价的，增s1就等价于删s2）

其实每次状态转移就是在“增”“删”“改”（“增删”对应dp[i-1][j]和dp[i][j-1]，“改”对应dp[i-1][j-1]）三种方式中选一个操作次数最少的。而s1[i-1] == s2[j-1]的时候只用考虑dp[i-1][j-1]不用考虑dp[i-1][j]或dp[i][j-1]是因为如下不等式组：

dp[i-1][j-1] <= dp[i][j] (最优子结构) <= dp[i-1][j] + 1 (或dp[i][j-1] + 1) (由式(2)可知)

这个不等式组保证了

dp[i-1][j-1] <= dp[i-1][j] + 1且dp[i][j-1] + 1

但是注意它并不保证

dp[i-1][j-1] + 1<= dp[i-1][j] + 1

所以式(2)中不能把dp[i-1][j-1]精简掉。

------------------------------------------------------------

代码

class Solution {
    public int minDistance(String word1, String word2) {
        int n1 = word1.length(), n2 = word2.length();
        int[][] dp = new int[n1+1][n2+1];
        if (n1 == 0)
        {
            return n2;
        }
        if (n2 == 0)
        {
            return n1;
        }
        dp[0][0] = 0;
        int i = 0, j = 0;
        for (i=1; i<=n1; i++)
        {
            dp[i][0] = i;
        }
        for (i=1; i<=n2; i++)
        {
            dp[0][i] = i;
        }
        for (i=1; i<=n1; i++)
        {
            for (j=1; j<=n2; j++)
            {
                if (word1.charAt(i-1) == word2.charAt(j-1))
                {
                    dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j-1];
                }
                else
                {
                    // dp[i][j] = min(dp[i-1][j-1], dp[i-1][j], dp[i][j-1]) + 1
                    dp[i][j] = Math.min(dp[i][j-1], dp[i-1][j]);
                    dp[i][j] = Math.min(dp[i][j], dp[i-1][j-1]);
                    dp[i][j]++;
                }
            }
        }
        return dp[n1][n2];
    }
}