If you have just two colors then this is possible in O(N). But since the problem says K colors, this would effectively be sorting of K numbers. If K is limited (<N) then we could use counting sort and such algo's to do it in near O(N) (with O(K) storage as well). If K can be unlimited and the input size can be HUGE then we rather resort to one of the in-place sort in O(N log N) complexity.
On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 1:06 AM, ankur aggarwal <[email protected]>wrote: > You have N balls having one of K colors. Arrange them into groups of same > colors. e.g. > > RRRRRRGRG > can be arranged as > RRRRRRRGG (Answer) > GGRRRRRRR > > > -- Yesterday is History. Tomorrow is a Mystery. Today is a Gift! That is why it is called the Present :). http://sites.google.com/site/ramaswamyr --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Algorithm Geeks" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/algogeeks -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
