1641. Count Sorted Vowel Strings(DFS / DP)

DFS solution

Actually, my first dfs solution time limit was exceeded.

My thought is to do simple combinations dfs, just dfs on the search tree.

class Solution {
public:
    int x = 0;  
    char arr[5] = {'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u'};
    void dfs(string s, int n, int index){
        if(s.length() == n){
            x += 1;
            return;
        }
        for(int i = index; i < 5; i++){
            dfs(s + arr[i], n, i);
        }
    }
    int countVowelStrings(int n) {
        dfs("", n, 0);
        return x;
    }
};

Later, I tried to use length to replace passing string and it worked. 

class Solution {
public:
    int x = 0;  
    char arr[5] = {'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u'};
    void dfs(int len, int n, int index){
        if(len == n){
            x += 1;
            return;
        }
        for(int i = index; i < 5; i++){
            dfs(len + 1, n, i);
        }
    }
    int countVowelStrings(int n) {
        dfs(0, n, 0);
        return x;
    }
};

DP solution

The dp solution is quite easy to think of, there are two methods to lead you there. The first one is to draw the different n and find the pattern. The second one is to analyze the different things between a e i o u.

We know a can match with 5 letters and e only match 4, and so on. by this pattern, you would know when n equals 3, a's pattern would include the pattern of e, i, o, u when n equals 2. 

class Solution {
public:
    int countVowelStrings(int n) {
        //dp is simple, a matches 5 alp, b is 4, c is 3 ...
        //         {u, o, i, e, a}
        //n = 1 -> {1, 1, 1, 1, 1} -> 5
        //n = 2 -> {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} -> 15
        //n = 3 -> {1, 3, 6, 10, 15} -> 35
        int dp[5] = {1, 1, 1, 1, 1};
        for(int i = 0; i < n; i++){
            for(int j = 4; j >= 0; j--){
                for(int k = 0; k < j; k++){
                    dp[j] += dp[k];
                }
            }
        }
        return dp[4];
    }
};