Super Egg Drop — LeetCode 887 Python Solution

The problem

You are given k identical eggs and you have access to a building with n floors labeled from 1 to n. You know that there exists a floor f where 0 <= f <= n such that any egg dropped at a floor higher than f will break, and any egg dropped at or below floor f will not break.

Example

Input

k = 1, n = 2

Output

2

Explanation

Drop the egg from floor 1. If it breaks, we know that f = 0.

Python solution

class Solution:
    def superEggDrop(self, k: int, n: int) -> int:
        @cache
        def dfs(i: int, j: int) -> int:
            if i < 1:
                return 0
            if j == 1:
                return i
            l, r = 1, i
            while l < r:
                mid = (l + r + 1) >> 1
                a = dfs(mid - 1, j - 1)
                b = dfs(i - mid, j)
                if a <= b:
                    l = mid
                else:
                    r = mid - 1
            return max(dfs(l - 1, j - 1), dfs(i - l, j)) + 1

        return dfs(n, k)

Complexity

Pattern: Monotonic Stack

Answer "what is the next greater element" for every position in one pass. LeetCode 887. Super Egg Drop is filed here because the reference solution below belongs to the algorithm family this hub collects, even though its LeetCode tags point elsewhere.

The monotonic stack guide has the Python template for the pattern and the 225 LeetCode problems that use it.

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