This problem is extracted from HackerRank: Counting Valleys. Its rating is Easy. We will be using Python 3 to solve this problem. Do try to solve it yourself first in HackerRank before peeking at the solution. 🙂
The Problem
Gary is an avid hiker. He tracks his hikes meticulously, paying close attention to small details like topography. During his last hike, he took exactly
n
steps. For every step he took, he noted if it was an uphill or a downhill step. Gary’s hikes start and end at sea level. We define the following terms:
- A mountain is a non-empty sequence of consecutive steps above sea level, starting with a step up from sea level and ending with a step down to sea level.
- A valley is a non-empty sequence of consecutive steps below sea level, starting with a step down from sea level and ending with a step up to sea level.
Given Gary’s sequence of up and down steps during his last hike, find and print the number of valleys he walked through.
Input Format
The first line contains an integer,n
, denoting the number of steps in Gary’s hike.The second line contains a single string of
n
characters. Each character is∈ {U, D}
(where U indicates a step up and D indicates a step down), and theith
character in the string describes Gary’sith
step during the hike.Constraints
2 ≤ N ≤ 106
Output Format
Print a single integer denoting the number of valleys Gary walked through during his hike.Sample Input
8
UDDDUDUUSample Output
1
Explanation
If we represent_
as sea level, a step up as/
, and a step down as\
, Gary’s hike can be drawn as:
It’s clear that there is only one valley there, so we print 1 on a new line.
Approaching the Problem
count_valleys
that will take in two arguments, n
and steps
, where n
is the total number of steps Gary takes, and steps
is a string object containing a string of U
or D
characters. This function will return the number of valleys.
First, think about what you need to keep track of. The most essential bit is, of course, the number of valleys, as we have to return this value.
Using the illustration in the Explanation portion in the question, we have to know the overall topography by using our program to know Gary’s position every step he takes. We can use an integer variable, level
, to track how far above or below the sea level Gary is. This variable level
will start at 0 to indicate Gary’s starting position at sea level. Whenever we encounter 'U'
in Gary’s step, we will increase level
by 1. When we encounter 'D'
, we will decrease level
by 1. This means that when the value of level is positive
, he is above sea level on a mountain, and when it is negative, he is in a valley.
def count_valleys(n, steps): num_valleys = 0 # number of valleys level = 0 # starts at sea level for d in steps: if d == 'U': # going upslope level += 1 else: # going downslope level -= 1 return num_valleys
At this point, we are keeping track of Gary’s position relative to sea level, but not the number of valleys yet. Next, we should think about when we can increment num_valleys
.
Let’s break down the problem into more digestible parts:
- At each loop, we analyse the direction Gary does: It can only be
'U'
(upslope) or'D'
(downslope). - When it’s a
'U'
, there’s no reason for us to incrementnum_valleys
, since Gary is climbing back up. - Now, when it’s a
'D'
, how can we consider it a new valley, so that we may incrementnum_valleys
?
To answer the last point, for it to be considered a new valley, the level
variable must be 0 in the previous loop (in other words, he must be at sea level before stepping downslope). This special consideration must be included in the else
case of our function above (where d == 'D'
).
Hence, before we decrement level
, we need to do a test if Gary was previously at sea level (level == 0
). If so, then increment num_valleys
.
Final version of our function:
def count_valleys(n, steps): num_valleys = 0 # number of valleys level = 0 # starts at sea level for d in steps: if d == 'U': # going upslope level += 1 else: # going downslope if level == 0: num_valleys += 1 level -= 1 return num_valleys
Final Solution
def count_valleys(n, steps): num_valleys = 0 # number of valleys level = 0 # starts at sea level for d in steps: if d == 'U': # going upslope level += 1 else: # going downslope if level == 0: num_valleys += 1 level -= 1 return num_valleys n = int(input().strip()) steps = input().strip() result = count_valleys(n, steps) print(result)
Hi, there is a mistake in your approach,
if we see the definition of valley “A valley is a non-empty sequence of consecutive steps below sea level, starting with a step down from sea level and ending with a step up to sea level.”
because of this, the only zeros that we should count, are the ones that exist when we add one, not when we take one. Because we are finishing in a step up, not a step down.
The code how it currently is you are counting mountains, not valleys.
this is the correction:
———————-
for d in steps:
if d == ‘U’: # going upslope
level += 1
if level == 0:
num_valleys += 1
else: # going downslope
level -= 1
return num_valleys
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