Problem Description:
There are N gas stations along a circular route, where the amount of gas at station i is gas[i].
You have a car with an unlimited gas tank and it costs cost[i] of gas to travel from station i to its next station (i+1). You begin the journey with an empty tank at one of the gas stations.
Return the starting gas station’s index if you can travel around the circuit once, otherwise return -1.
Note:
The solution is guaranteed to be unique.
Analysis:
Two important observation, details in the link:
1. If car starts at A and can not reach B. Any station between A and B can not reach B.(B is the first station that A can not reach.)
2. If the total gas is greater than total cost, there are must be a solution.(proof by merging the connected gas station).It’s the key to the O(n) solution.
Code:
int canCompleteCircuit(vector<int> &gas, vector<int> &cost) {
int start(0),total(0),tank(0);
//if car fails at 'start', record the next station
for(int i=0;i<gas.size();i++)
if((tank=tank+gas[i]-cost[i])<0)//total is the gas - cost;
{
start=i+1;
total+=tank;
tank=0;
}
return (total+tank<0)? -1:start;
}
More Complex one.
int canCompleteCircuit(vector<int>& gas, vector<int>& cost) {
int n = gas.size();
int i = 0, s = 0;
while(s < n) {
vector<int> reminder(n, 0);//use int pre(0),cur(0);
if (gas[s] < cost[s]) { s++; continue;}
//cout<< s<<endl;
for (i = 1; i < n; i++)
{
reminder[i] = reminder[i - 1] + gas[(s + i - 1) % n] - cost[(s + i - 1) % n];
if(reminder[i] <= 0) break;
}
if(i == n) return s ;
s = s + i;
}
return -1;
}