Problem Description

In the given LeetCode problem, Koko loves bananas and has n piles of them, with the i-th pile containing piles[i] bananas. Koko has h hours to eat all the bananas before the guards return, and she can set a constant eating speed of k bananas per hour. At each hour, she eats k bananas from a pile; if the pile has fewer than k bananas, she'll finish that pile and then stop eating for that hour. The goal is to determine the minimum eating speed k that allows Koko to consume all the bananas within the h hours available.

The problem is essentially about finding the lowest possible rate of eating bananas per hour, which allows Koko to eat all bananas in the given time without running out of time. The speed k must be an integer, and the challenge is to find the smallest such k that still meets the time constraint.

Intuition

The solution is based on a binary search approach. Since we're looking for the minimum integer value of k that enables Koko to finish all bananas within h hours, and k can range from 1 (eating very slowly) to the maximum number of bananas in any pile in the worst-case scenario (eating very fast), we can use binary search to narrow down the possible values of k.

We start with the lower bound left of 1 (the slowest possible eating speed) and an upper bound right which is set to a high enough value (like 10^9) that it's guaranteed to be higher than the maximum necessary speed.

At each step of the binary search, we calculate the midpoint mid between left and right. We then calculate the total hours s it would take for Koko to eat all the bananas at this speed. If s is less than or equal to h, this means mid is a viable eating speed and could possibly be the answer, so we move the right bound to mid, potentially reducing the range. If s is greater than h, then eating at speed mid is too slow and we need to increase the eating speed, so we move the left bound up to mid + 1.

The binary search continues until left and right converge to the minimum possible value of k that allows Koko to eat all bananas in h hours.

Learn more about Binary Search patterns.

Solution Approach

The reference solution approach suggests employing a binary search algorithm to efficiently find the minimum eating speed k. This approach is chosen due to the nature of the problem, which quite clearly forms a sorted space where the speed can be increased or decreased based on whether Koko can finish the bananas within the given time h or not.

Here is a detailed walk-through of the algorithm:

1. Initialize two pointers: one for the lower bound left set to 1 (since Koko has to eat at least one banana per hour), and another for the upper bound right set to a large number, such as 10^9, to ensure that it is larger than any real-world scenario would require.

2. While left is less than right, we continue the binary search:

   • We find the midpoint mid by averaging the left and right pointers ((left + right) >> 1). Here, the >> 1 operation is a bitwise shift that effectively divides the sum by two.

   • We then compute the total number of hours s it would take to eat all the piles at the eating speed mid. This is done by iterating over each pile in piles and calculating the hours needed for each pile using (x + mid - 1) // mid, which is a way to perform ceiling division without using floats to ensure we get an integer result. This formula accounts for the fact that if there are less than mid bananas in a pile, Koko will spend an entire hour eating it (represented by the x + mid - 1 part).

3. After calculating s, we make a decision based on whether this proposed eating speed mid is fast enough:

   • If s is less than or equal to h, we know that mid is at least as fast as the eating speed needs to be, so we adjust the upper bound right to mid. This narrows the search and potentially lowers the eating speed.

   • If s is greater than h, the proposed eating speed mid is too slow, and we need to look for a faster eating speed; thus, we move the lower bound left up to mid + 1.

4. The binary search ends when left equals right, at which point left represents the minimum integer eating speed k that allows Koko to eat all bananas within h hours.

The binary search efficiently zeros in on the optimal value without having to try every possible eating speed, which significantly reduces the number of calculations and, thus, the running time of the algorithm.

Example Walkthrough

Let's consider a small example to illustrate the solution approach described above. Assume Koko has 4 piles of bananas where piles = [3, 6, 7, 11], and she has h = 8 hours to eat all of them. We need to determine the minimum integer value of k such that Koko can finish the bananas within 8 hours.

1. Initialize Lower and Upper Bounds:

   • We set left = 1 since Koko needs to eat at least one banana per hour.
   • We set right = max(piles) = 11 since the minimum speed k cannot be more than the largest pile (Koko could eat any pile in an hour at this speed).

2. Binary Search:

   • While left < right, we continue to search:
     • Initially, left = 1, right = 11.
     • Midpoint mid = (left + right) >> 1 = (1 + 11) / 2 = 6.

3. Calculate Total Hours s at Speed mid:

   • For mid = 6, we calculate the total hours to eat each pile:
     • Pile 1: (3 + 6 - 1) // 6 = 1 hour.
     • Pile 2: (6 + 6 - 1) // 6 = 1 hour.
     • Pile 3: (7 + 6 - 1) // 6 = 2 hours.
     • Pile 4: (11 + 6 - 1) // 6 = 2 hours.
   • Total hours s = 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 6 hours.

4. Adjust Pointers:

   • Since s <= h, we can try a smaller k. So we adjust right = mid, now right = 6.
   • The new left and right bounds are left = 1 and right = 6.

5. Repeat Binary Search:

   • With left = 1 and right = 6, mid = (left + right) >> 1 = (1 + 6) / 2 = 3.5, which rounds down to 3.
   • Repeat the total hours s calculation for mid = 3.

6. Continue Until left equals right:

   • The binary search is repeated, updating left and right based on the calculated hours s until they equal.
   • Each time, if s <= h, decrease right. If s > h, increase left.
   • Eventually, left will equal right, giving the minimum speed k.

In this example, when mid = 4, the total hours s will be equal to 8 hours, which is exactly the time Koko has. Thus, the minimum speed k is 4 bananas per hour. At this rate, Koko will finish exactly on time:

• Pile 1 in 1 hour,
• Pile 2 in 2 hours,
• Pile 3 in 2 hours, and
• Pile 4 in 3 hours.

For simplicity, not all steps are shown here, but following this approach, the algorithm investigates fewer possibilities than checking each speed sequentially, thus finding the correct k more efficiently.

Solution Implementation

Time and Space Complexity

Time Complexity

The time complexity of the code is determined by the binary search and the computation required to sum up the hours needed to eat all the piles at a particular speed. The binary search runs in O(log(max(piles))) because it searches between 1 and max(piles) upper-bounded by 1e9. During each step of the search, we calculate the sum of hours which takes O(n) where n is the number of piles. Therefore, the overall time complexity of the algorithm is O(n*log(max(piles))).

Space Complexity

The space complexity of the code is O(1) as only a constant amount of extra space is used besides the input piles. Variables like left, right, mid, and s occupy constant space and no additional data structures dependent on input size are introduced.

Learn more about how to find time and space complexity quickly using problem constraints.