[Solved] 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.

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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 weight x is destroyed, and the stone of weight y has new weight y - 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 <= 30
  • 1 <= 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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