Off-by-one on range boundaries
Wrong move: Loop endpoints miss first/last candidate.
Usually fails on: Fails on minimal arrays and exact-boundary answers.
Fix: Re-derive loops from inclusive/exclusive ranges before coding.
Break down a hard problem into reliable checkpoints, edge-case handling, and complexity trade-offs.
There is a donuts shop that bakes donuts in batches of batchSize. They have a rule where they must serve all of the donuts of a batch before serving any donuts of the next batch. You are given an integer batchSize and an integer array groups, where groups[i] denotes that there is a group of groups[i] customers that will visit the shop. Each customer will get exactly one donut.
When a group visits the shop, all customers of the group must be served before serving any of the following groups. A group will be happy if they all get fresh donuts. That is, the first customer of the group does not receive a donut that was left over from the previous group.
You can freely rearrange the ordering of the groups. Return the maximum possible number of happy groups after rearranging the groups.
Example 1:
Input: batchSize = 3, groups = [1,2,3,4,5,6] Output: 4 Explanation: You can arrange the groups as [6,2,4,5,1,3]. Then the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th groups will be happy.
Example 2:
Input: batchSize = 4, groups = [1,3,2,5,2,2,1,6] Output: 4
Constraints:
1 <= batchSize <= 91 <= groups.length <= 301 <= groups[i] <= 109Problem summary: There is a donuts shop that bakes donuts in batches of batchSize. They have a rule where they must serve all of the donuts of a batch before serving any donuts of the next batch. You are given an integer batchSize and an integer array groups, where groups[i] denotes that there is a group of groups[i] customers that will visit the shop. Each customer will get exactly one donut. When a group visits the shop, all customers of the group must be served before serving any of the following groups. A group will be happy if they all get fresh donuts. That is, the first customer of the group does not receive a donut that was left over from the previous group. You can freely rearrange the ordering of the groups. Return the maximum possible number of happy groups after rearranging the groups.
Start with the most direct exhaustive search. That gives a correctness anchor before optimizing.
Pattern signal: Array · Dynamic Programming · Bit Manipulation
3 [1,2,3,4,5,6]
4 [1,3,2,5,2,2,1,6]
Source-backed implementations are provided below for direct study and interview prep.
// Accepted solution for LeetCode #1815: Maximum Number of Groups Getting Fresh Donuts
class Solution {
private Map<Long, Integer> f = new HashMap<>();
private int size;
public int maxHappyGroups(int batchSize, int[] groups) {
size = batchSize;
int ans = 0;
long state = 0;
for (int g : groups) {
int i = g % size;
if (i == 0) {
++ans;
} else {
state += 1l << (i * 5);
}
}
ans += dfs(state, 0);
return ans;
}
private int dfs(long state, int mod) {
if (f.containsKey(state)) {
return f.get(state);
}
int res = 0;
for (int i = 1; i < size; ++i) {
if ((state >> (i * 5) & 31) != 0) {
int t = dfs(state - (1l << (i * 5)), (mod + i) % size);
res = Math.max(res, t + (mod == 0 ? 1 : 0));
}
}
f.put(state, res);
return res;
}
}
// Accepted solution for LeetCode #1815: Maximum Number of Groups Getting Fresh Donuts
func maxHappyGroups(batchSize int, groups []int) (ans int) {
state := 0
for _, v := range groups {
i := v % batchSize
if i == 0 {
ans++
} else {
state += 1 << (i * 5)
}
}
f := map[int]int{}
var dfs func(int, int) int
dfs = func(state, mod int) int {
if v, ok := f[state]; ok {
return v
}
res := 0
x := 0
if mod == 0 {
x = 1
}
for i := 1; i < batchSize; i++ {
if state>>(i*5)&31 != 0 {
t := dfs(state-1<<(i*5), (mod+i)%batchSize)
res = max(res, t+x)
}
}
f[state] = res
return res
}
ans += dfs(state, 0)
return
}
# Accepted solution for LeetCode #1815: Maximum Number of Groups Getting Fresh Donuts
class Solution:
def maxHappyGroups(self, batchSize: int, groups: List[int]) -> int:
@cache
def dfs(state, mod):
res = 0
x = int(mod == 0)
for i in range(1, batchSize):
if state >> (i * 5) & 31:
t = dfs(state - (1 << (i * 5)), (mod + i) % batchSize)
res = max(res, t + x)
return res
state = ans = 0
for v in groups:
i = v % batchSize
ans += i == 0
if i:
state += 1 << (i * 5)
ans += dfs(state, 0)
return ans
// Accepted solution for LeetCode #1815: Maximum Number of Groups Getting Fresh Donuts
/**
* [1815] Maximum Number of Groups Getting Fresh Donuts
*
* There is a donuts shop that bakes donuts in batches of batchSize. They have a rule where they must serve all of the donuts of a batch before serving any donuts of the next batch. You are given an integer batchSize and an integer array groups, where groups[i] denotes that there is a group of groups[i] customers that will visit the shop. Each customer will get exactly one donut.
* When a group visits the shop, all customers of the group must be served before serving any of the following groups. A group will be happy if they all get fresh donuts. That is, the first customer of the group does not receive a donut that was left over from the previous group.
* You can freely rearrange the ordering of the groups. Return the maximum possible number of happy groups after rearranging the groups.
*
* Example 1:
*
* Input: batchSize = 3, groups = [1,2,3,4,5,6]
* Output: 4
* Explanation: You can arrange the groups as [6,2,4,5,1,3]. Then the 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th groups will be happy.
*
* Example 2:
*
* Input: batchSize = 4, groups = [1,3,2,5,2,2,1,6]
* Output: 4
*
*
* Constraints:
*
* 1 <= batchSize <= 9
* 1 <= groups.length <= 30
* 1 <= groups[i] <= 10^9
*
*/
pub struct Solution {}
// problem: https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-number-of-groups-getting-fresh-donuts/
// discuss: https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-number-of-groups-getting-fresh-donuts/discuss/?currentPage=1&orderBy=most_votes&query=
// submission codes start here
impl Solution {
pub fn max_happy_groups(batch_size: i32, groups: Vec<i32>) -> i32 {
0
}
}
// submission codes end
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
#[test]
#[ignore]
fn test_1815_example_1() {
let batch_size = 3;
let groups = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
let result = 4;
assert_eq!(Solution::max_happy_groups(batch_size, groups), result);
}
#[test]
#[ignore]
fn test_1815_example_2() {
let batch_size = 4;
let groups = vec![1, 3, 2, 5, 2, 2, 1, 6];
let result = 4;
assert_eq!(Solution::max_happy_groups(batch_size, groups), result);
}
}
// Accepted solution for LeetCode #1815: Maximum Number of Groups Getting Fresh Donuts
// Auto-generated TypeScript example from java.
function exampleSolution(): void {
}
// Reference (java):
// // Accepted solution for LeetCode #1815: Maximum Number of Groups Getting Fresh Donuts
// class Solution {
// private Map<Long, Integer> f = new HashMap<>();
// private int size;
//
// public int maxHappyGroups(int batchSize, int[] groups) {
// size = batchSize;
// int ans = 0;
// long state = 0;
// for (int g : groups) {
// int i = g % size;
// if (i == 0) {
// ++ans;
// } else {
// state += 1l << (i * 5);
// }
// }
// ans += dfs(state, 0);
// return ans;
// }
//
// private int dfs(long state, int mod) {
// if (f.containsKey(state)) {
// return f.get(state);
// }
// int res = 0;
// for (int i = 1; i < size; ++i) {
// if ((state >> (i * 5) & 31) != 0) {
// int t = dfs(state - (1l << (i * 5)), (mod + i) % size);
// res = Math.max(res, t + (mod == 0 ? 1 : 0));
// }
// }
// f.put(state, res);
// return res;
// }
// }
Use this to step through a reusable interview workflow for this problem.
Pure recursion explores every possible choice at each step. With two choices per state (take or skip), the decision tree has 2ⁿ leaves. The recursion stack uses O(n) space. Many subproblems are recomputed exponentially many times.
Each cell in the DP table is computed exactly once from previously solved subproblems. The table dimensions determine both time and space. Look for the state variables — each unique combination of state values is one cell. Often a rolling array can reduce space by one dimension.
Review these before coding to avoid predictable interview regressions.
Wrong move: Loop endpoints miss first/last candidate.
Usually fails on: Fails on minimal arrays and exact-boundary answers.
Fix: Re-derive loops from inclusive/exclusive ranges before coding.
Wrong move: An incomplete state merges distinct subproblems and caches incorrect answers.
Usually fails on: Correctness breaks on cases that differ only in hidden state.
Fix: Define state so each unique subproblem maps to one DP cell.