lintcode(666)Guess Number Game II

Description:

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.

Explanation:

Given 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.

Given a particular n ≥ 1, find out how much money you need to have to guarantee a win.
So when n = ｀10, return16`

Solution:

Dynamic programming.

状态转移方程：

dp[start][end] = min(start <= k <= end){ k + max( dp[start][k - 1] , dp[k + 1][end] ) }

目标：

dp[1][n]

首先设置每次猜数字的间距，范围是从[ 1 , n - 1 ];

然后设置起始位置 start 和 终止位置 end；

如果猜错了，则需要从左右两边继续开始猜测。

所以猜中一个数 (start+ k) 有两个来源 ，dp[start][k - 1] , dp[k + 1][end]；

取最大值( the worst case), 来求得保证猜对为止的成本。

Guess Number Game I 使用的二分法搜索来实现的。

public class Solution {
    /**
     * @param n an integer
     * @return how much money you need to have to guarantee a win
     */
    public int getMoneyAmount(int n) {
        // Write your code here
        int[][] dp = new int[n + 2][n + 2];
        for(int width = 1 ; width < n; width++){
            for(int start = 1 , end = start + width ; end <= n ; start++ , end++){
                dp[start][end] = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
                for(int k = start ; k <= end ; k++){
                    dp[start][end] = Math.min(dp[start][end] , k + Math.max(dp[start][k-1] , dp[k+1][end]));
                }
            }
        }
        return dp[1][n];
    }
}