Minimizing Array After Replacing Pairs With Their Product(LeetCode 2892):

Problem

Given an integer array nums and an integer k, you can perform the following operation on the array any number of times:

  • Select two adjacent elements of the array like x and y, such that x * y <= k, and replace both of them with a single element with value x * y (e.g. in one operation the array [1, 2, 2, 3] with k = 5 can become [1, 4, 3] or [2, 2, 3], but can't become [1, 2, 6]).

Return the minimum possible length of nums after any number of operations.

 

Example 1:

Input: nums = [2,3,3,7,3,5], k = 20
Output: 3
Explanation: We perform these operations:
1. [2,3,3,7,3,5] -> [6,3,7,3,5]
2. [6,3,7,3,5] -> [18,7,3,5]
3. [18,7,3,5] -> [18,7,15]
It can be shown that 3 is the minimum length possible to achieve with the given operation.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [3,3,3,3], k = 6
Output: 4
Explanation: We can't perform any operations since the product of every two adjacent elements is greater than 6.
Hence, the answer is 4.

 

Constraints:

  • 1 <= nums.length <= 105
  • 0 <= nums[i] <= 109
  • 1 <= k <= 109