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Partition of a set into K subsets with equal sum

Given an integer array of N elements, the task is to divide this array into K non-empty subsets such that the sum of elements in every subset is same. All elements of this array should be part of exactly one partition.

Examples:

Input : arr = [2, 1, 4, 5, 6], K = 3

Output : Yes

we can divide above array into 3 parts with equal

sum as [[2, 4], [1, 5], [6]]

Input : arr = [2, 1, 5, 5, 6], K = 3

Output : No

It is not possible to divide above array into 3

parts with equal sum

We can solve this problem recursively, we keep an array for sum of each partition and a boolean array to check whether an element is already taken into some partition or not.
First we need to check some base cases,
If K is 1, then we already have our answer, complete array is only subset with same sum.
If N < K, then it is not possible to divide array into subsets with equal sum, because we can’t divide the array into more than N parts.
If sum of array is not divisible by K, then it is not possible to divide the array. We will proceed only if k divides sum. Our goal reduces to divide array into K parts where sum of each part should be array_sum/K
In below code a recursive method is written which tries to add array element into some subset. If sum of this subset reaches required sum, we iterate for next part recursively, otherwise we backtrack for different set of elements. If number of subsets whose sum reaches the required sum is (K-1), we flag that it is possible to partition array into K parts with equal sum, because remaining elements already have a sum equal to required sum.

// C++ program to check whether an array can be

// partitioned into K subsets of equal sum

#include < bits/stdc++.h >

using namespace std;

// Recursive Utility method to check K equal sum

// subsetition of array

/**

array - given input array

subsetSum array - sum to store each subset of the array

taken - boolean array to check whether element

is taken into sum partition or not

K - number of partitions needed

N - total number of element in array

curIdx - current subsetSum index

limitIdx - lastIdx from where array element should

be taken */

bool isKPartitionPossibleRec(int arr[], int subsetSum[], bool taken[],

int subset, int K, int N, int curIdx, int limitIdx)

{

if (subsetSum[curIdx] == subset)

{

/* current index (K - 2) represents (K - 1) subsets of equal

sum last partition will already remain with sum 'subset'*/

if (curIdx == K - 2)

return true;

// recursive call for next subsetition

return isKPartitionPossibleRec(arr, subsetSum, taken, subset,

K, N, curIdx + 1, N - 1);

}

// start from limitIdx and include elements into current partition

for (int i = limitIdx; i >= 0; i--)

{

// if already taken, continue

if (taken[i])

continue;

int tmp = subsetSum[curIdx] + arr[i];

// if temp is less than subset then only include the element

// and call recursively

if (tmp <= subset)

{

// mark the element and include into current partition sum

taken[i] = true;

subsetSum[curIdx] += arr[i];

bool nxt = isKPartitionPossibleRec(arr, subsetSum, taken,

subset, K, N, curIdx, i - 1);

// after recursive call unmark the element and remove from

// subsetition sum

taken[i] = false;

subsetSum[curIdx] -= arr[i];

if (nxt)

return true;

}

}

return false;

}

// Method returns true if arr can be partitioned into K subsets

// with equal sum

bool isKPartitionPossible(int arr[], int N, int K)

{

// If K is 1, then complete array will be our answer

if (K == 1)

return true;

// If total number of partitions are more than N, then

// division is not possible

if (N < K)

return false;

// if array sum is not divisible by K then we can't divide

// array into K partitions

int sum = 0;

for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)

sum += arr[i];

if (sum % K != 0)

return false;

// the sum of each subset should be subset (= sum / K)

int subset = sum / K;

int subsetSum[K];

bool taken[N];

// Initialize sum of each subset from 0

for (int i = 0; i < K; i++)

subsetSum[i] = 0;

// mark all elements as not taken

for (int i = 0; i < N; i++)

taken[i] = false;

// initialize first subsubset sum as last element of

// array and mark that as taken

subsetSum[0] = arr[N - 1];

taken[N - 1] = true;

// call recursive method to check K-substitution condition

return isKPartitionPossibleRec(arr, subsetSum, taken,

subset, K, N, 0, N - 1);

}

// Driver code to test above methods

int main()

{

int arr[] = {2, 1, 4, 5, 3, 3};

int N = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);

int K = 3;

if (isKPartitionPossible(arr, N, K))

cout << "Partitions into equal sum is possible.\n";

else

cout << "Partitions into equal sum is not possible.\n";

}

Output:


Partitions into equal sum is possible.