Question
You are given an array of integers stones where stones[i] is the weight of the ith stone.
We are playing a game with the stones. On each turn, we choose the heaviest two stones and smash them together. Suppose the heaviest two stones have weights x and y with x <= y. The result of this smash is:
- If
x == y, both stones are destroyed, and - If
x != y, the stone of weightxis destroyed, and the stone of weightyhas new weighty - x.
At the end of the game, there is at most one stone left.
Return the weight of the last remaining stone. If there are no stones left, return 0.
Example 1:
Input: stones = [2,7,4,1,8,1] Output: 1 Explanation: We combine 7 and 8 to get 1 so the array converts to [2,4,1,1,1] then, we combine 2 and 4 to get 2 so the array converts to [2,1,1,1] then, we combine 2 and 1 to get 1 so the array converts to [1,1,1] then, we combine 1 and 1 to get 0 so the array converts to [1] then that's the value of the last stone.
Example 2:
Input: stones = [1] Output: 1
Constraints:
1 <= stones.length <= 301 <= stones[i] <= 1000
Python Solution
class Solution:
def lastStoneWeight(self, stones: List[int]) -> int:
stones.sort(reverse=True)
while 1:
if len(stones)<=1:
break
if stones[0]>stones[1]:
stones.append(stones[0]-stones[1])
stones.remove(stones[0])
stones.remove(stones[0])
stones.sort(reverse=True)
if len(stones)==1:
return(stones[0])
else:
return(0)

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