{ "cells": [ { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "This notebook was prepared by [Donne Martin](https://github.com/donnemartin). Source and license info is on [GitHub](https://github.com/donnemartin/interactive-coding-challenges)." ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "# Solution Notebook" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Problem: You are running up n steps. If you can take a single, double, or triple step, how many possible ways are there to run up to the nth step?\n", "\n", "* [Constraints](#Constraints)\n", "* [Test Cases](#Test-Cases)\n", "* [Algorithm](#Algorithm)\n", "* [Code](#Code)\n", "* [Unit Test](#Unit-Test)" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Constraints\n", "\n", "* If n == 0, what should the result be?\n", " * Go with 1, but discuss different approaches\n", "* Can we assume the inputs are valid?\n", " * No\n", "* Can we assume this fits memory?\n", " * Yes" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Test Cases\n", "\n", "* None or negative input -> Exception\n", "* n == 0 -> 1\n", "* n == 1 -> 1\n", "* n == 2 -> 2\n", "* n == 3 -> 4\n", "* n == 4 -> 7\n", "* n == 10 -> 274" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Algorithm\n", "\n", "To get to step n, we will need to have gone:\n", "\n", "* One step from n-1\n", "* Two steps from n-2\n", "* Three steps from n-3\n", "\n", "If we go the one step route above, we'll be at n-1 before taking the last step. To get to step n-1, we will need to have gone:\n", "\n", "* One step from n-1-1\n", "* Two steps from n-1-2\n", "* Three steps from n-1-2\n", "\n", "Continue this process until we reach the start.\n", "\n", "Base case:\n", "\n", "* If n < 0: return 0\n", "* If n == 0: return 1\n", "\n", "Note, if we had chosen n == 0 to return 0 instead, we would need to add additional base cases. Otherwise we'd be adding multiple 0's once we hit the base cases and not get any result > 0.\n", "\n", "Recursive case:\n", "\n", "We'll memoize the solution to improve performance.\n", "\n", "* Use the memo if we've already processed the current step.\n", "* Update the memo by adding the recursive calls to step(n-1), step(n-2), step(n-3)\n", "\n", "Complexity:\n", "* Time: O(n), if using memoization\n", "* Space: O(n), where n is the recursion depth\n", "\n", "Note: The number of ways will quickly overflow the bounds of an integer." ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Code" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", "execution_count": 1, "metadata": {}, "outputs": [], "source": [ "class Steps(object):\n", "\n", " def count_ways(self, num_steps):\n", " if num_steps is None or num_steps < 0:\n", " raise TypeError('num_steps cannot be None or negative')\n", " cache = {}\n", " return self._count_ways(num_steps, cache)\n", "\n", " def _count_ways(self, num_steps, cache):\n", " if num_steps < 0:\n", " return 0\n", " if num_steps == 0:\n", " return 1\n", " if num_steps in cache:\n", " return cache[num_steps]\n", " cache[num_steps] = (self._count_ways(num_steps-1, cache) +\n", " self._count_ways(num_steps-2, cache) +\n", " self._count_ways(num_steps-3, cache))\n", " return cache[num_steps]" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Unit Test" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", "execution_count": 2, "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ { "name": "stdout", "output_type": "stream", "text": [ "Overwriting test_steps.py\n" ] } ], "source": [ "%%writefile test_steps.py\n", "import unittest\n", "\n", "\n", "class TestSteps(unittest.TestCase):\n", "\n", " def test_steps(self):\n", " steps = Steps()\n", " self.assertRaises(TypeError, steps.count_ways, None)\n", " self.assertRaises(TypeError, steps.count_ways, -1)\n", " self.assertEqual(steps.count_ways(0), 1)\n", " self.assertEqual(steps.count_ways(1), 1)\n", " self.assertEqual(steps.count_ways(2), 2)\n", " self.assertEqual(steps.count_ways(3), 4)\n", " self.assertEqual(steps.count_ways(4), 7)\n", " self.assertEqual(steps.count_ways(10), 274)\n", " print('Success: test_steps')\n", "\n", "\n", "def main():\n", " test = TestSteps()\n", " test.test_steps()\n", "\n", "\n", "if __name__ == '__main__':\n", " main()" ] }, { "cell_type": "code", "execution_count": 3, "metadata": {}, "outputs": [ { "name": "stdout", "output_type": "stream", "text": [ "Success: test_steps\n" ] } ], "source": [ "%run -i test_steps.py" ] } ], "metadata": { "kernelspec": { "display_name": "Python 3", "language": "python", "name": "python3" }, "language_info": { "codemirror_mode": { "name": "ipython", "version": 3 }, "file_extension": ".py", "mimetype": "text/x-python", "name": "python", "nbconvert_exporter": "python", "pygments_lexer": "ipython3", "version": "3.7.2" } }, "nbformat": 4, "nbformat_minor": 1 }