Koko Eating Bananas
Detailed guide and Python implementation for the 'Koko Eating Bananas' problem.
1. Concept Overview
The 'Koko Eating Bananas' problem is a key challenge in the Binary Search section.
This implementation focuses on easy-level logic in Python.
We prioritize technical accuracy and code readability in our provided solutions.
2. Real-World Applications
3. Visual Intuition
Visualizing the logic flow for Koko Eating Bananas.
4. Prerequisites
5. Step-by-Step Thinking
1. Understand the problem
Read the problem statement for Koko Eating Bananas carefully.
2. Formulate brute force
Draft a simple iterative solution.
3. Identify inefficiency
Look for redundant calculations.
4. Optimize search path
Use hashing or sorting to speed up the process.
5. Final Implementation
Clean up the code for production standards.
Problem Statement
Koko loves to eat bananas. There are n piles of bananas, the ith pile has piles[i] bananas. The guards have gone and will come back in h hours.
Koko can decide her bananas-per-hour eating speed of k. Each hour, she chooses some pile of bananas and eats k bananas from that pile. If the pile has less than k bananas, she eats all of them instead and will not eat any more bananas during this hour.
Koko likes to eat slowly but still wants to finish eating all the bananas before the guards return.
Return the minimum integer k such that she can eat all the bananas within h hours.
Write a function minEatingSpeed(piles: List[int], h: int) -> int.
- •1 <= len(piles) <= 10^4
- •len(piles) <= h <= 10^9
- •1 <= piles[i] <= 10^9
Examples
piles = [3, 6, 7, 11], h = 8
4
At speed 4: pile 3 takes 1 hour, pile 6 takes 2 hours, pile 7 takes 2 hours, pile 11 takes 3 hours. Total = 8 hours.
piles = [30, 11, 23, 4, 20], h = 5
30
At speed 30: each pile takes 1 hour. Total = 5 hours.
piles = [30, 11, 23, 4, 20], h = 6
23
At speed 23: piles take 2+1+1+1+1 = 6 hours.
Need a Hint?
Edge Cases to Watch
- Empty input structures
- Single element inputs
- Large numerical bounds
Ready to Solve?
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Interview Insights & Variations
Complexity Analysis Breakdown
Why Time: Directly evaluates all possibilities.
Why Space: Uses standard local memory.
Why Time: Optimized paths reduce total operations.
Why Space: May trade memory for speed.
Optimized Solution Python Code
Optimized Solution Python Code
import math
def min_eating_speed_opt(piles, h):
l, r = 1, max(piles)
res = r
while l <= r:
k = (l + r) // 2
hours = 0
for p in piles:
hours += math.ceil(p / k)
if hours <= h:
res = min(res, k)
r = k - 1
else:
l = k + 1
return resBrute Force Code (Spoiler Guarded)
Brute Force Code (Spoiler Guarded)
import math
def min_eating_speed_brute(piles, h):
speed = 1
while True:
total_time = 0
for p in piles:
total_time += math.ceil(p / speed)
if total_time <= h: return speed
speed += 1Algorithm Pattern Checklist
When dealing with Binary Search data patterns.
Core Prerequisites
Revision Key Notes
Common Mistakes & Pitfalls
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