How do you solve Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items on LeetCode?

Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items (LeetCode #3789) can be solved using Brute Force or Optimal Solution. The optimal approach is Optimal Solution with O(1) time complexity and O(1) space complexity. Key insight: Using type 3 items can significantly reduce costs.

What is the time complexity of Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items?

The optimal solution for Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items runs in O(1) time and uses O(1) space. This solution runs in constant time since it only involves a few arithmetic operations.

What is the brute force solution for Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items?

The brute force approach for Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items is Brute Force, with O(n²) time complexity and O(1) space complexity. Try all combinations of items to meet the requirements. This method checks every possible way to buy items and calculates the cost for each. The optimal Optimal Solution approach improves this to O(1).

What algorithm or data structure is used to solve Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items?

Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items uses the following concepts: Math, Greedy. The recommended patterns to study are: Greedy, Dynamic Programming.

What are the interview tips for Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items?

Explain your thought process clearly. Use examples to illustrate your approach. Practice similar problems to build confidence.

What are common mistakes when solving Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items?

Not considering the minimum of needs when calculating type 3 items. Forgetting to account for remaining needs after using type 3 items.

#3789

Minimum Cost to Acquire Required Items

Medium

MathGreedyGreedyDynamic Programming

LeetCode ↗

Approaches

Brute ForceOptimal

Complexity Comparison

	Brute Force	Optimal Solution★
Time	O(n²)	O(1)
Space	O(1)	O(1)

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Intuition

Time O(1)Space O(1)

Use a greedy approach to minimize costs by prioritizing the cheapest item options based on needs.

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Algorithm

3 steps

1Step 1: Calculate the maximum number of type 3 items to buy, which is min(need1, need2).
2Step 2: Determine remaining needs for type 1 and type 2 after buying type 3 items.
3Step 3: Use the cheaper option between type 1 and type 2 items for remaining needs.

solution.py6 lines

1def minCost(cost1, cost2, costBoth, need1, need2):
2    type3 = min(need1, need2)
3    remaining1 = need1 - type3
4    remaining2 = need2 - type3
5    total_cost = type3 * costBoth + max(0, remaining1) * min(cost1, costBoth) + max(0, remaining2) * min(cost2, costBoth)
6    return total_cost

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Complexity note: This solution runs in constant time since it only involves a few arithmetic operations.

1Using type 3 items can significantly reduce costs.
2Always compare the cost of individual items with the combined item.

Solutions and explanations are original Tejav content. Problem titles © LeetCode — use the LeetCode button above for the full problem statement.