# Program to find number of operations needed to decrease n to 0 in C++

C++Server Side ProgrammingProgramming

Suppose we have a number n. Now consider an operation where we can either 1. Decrement n by one 2. If n is even number, then decrement it by n / 2 3. If n is divisible by 3, then decrement by 2 * (n / 3) Finally find the minimum number of operations required to decrement n to zero.

So, if the input is like n = 16, then the output will be 5, as n = 16 even then decreases it by n/2 4 times, it will be 1. Then reduce it by 1 to get 0. So total 5 operations.

To solve this, we will follow these steps −

• Define one map dp

• Define a function dfs(), this will take x,

• ret := x

• if x is in dp, then −

• return dp[x]

• if x <= 0, then −

• return x

• if x is same as 1, then −

• return 1

• md2 := x mod 2

• md3 := x mod 3

• ret := minimum of {ret, md2 + 1 + dfs((x - md2) / 2), md3 + 1 + dfs((x - md3) / 3)}

• return dp[x] = ret

• From the main method call and return dfs(n)

## Example

Let us see the following implementation to get better understanding −

Live Demo

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
unordered_map <int, int> dp;
int dfs(int x){
int ret = x;
if(dp.count(x))
return dp[x];
if(x <= 0)
return x;
if(x == 1)
return 1;
int md2 = x % 2;
int md3 = x % 3;
ret = min({ret, md2 + 1 + dfs((x - md2) / 2), md3 + 1 + dfs((x - md3) / 3)});
return dp[x] = ret;
}
int solve(int n) {
return dfs(n);
}
int main(){
int n = 16;
cout << solve(n);
}

## Input

16

## Output

5
Published on 22-Dec-2020 06:38:00