skipzero · March 17, 2023 15:06 · Mar 17, 2023
diff --git a/Sticks.js b/Sticks.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/**
+ *  in tackling this problem, I simply sorted the array, putting the larger sizes first.
+ *  Once I had the array sorted, I started with the biggest size and worked my way through it.
+ *  basically just sor tthe array and subtract from the length needed (k)
+ * 
+ *  I'm not sure if this passes the Big O notation requirement, I assume so with it being
+ *  super simple and only having one for loop. That should help keep complexity down.
+ * 
+ * 
+ */
+
+const getMinSticks = (sticks, k) => {
+  let stickCount = 0;
+  let remaining = k;
+  sticks.sort((a,b) => {
+    return a > b ? -1 : 0
+  })
+
+
+  for (let i = 0; i < sticks.length; i++) {
+    const length = sticks[i];
+    const needed = Math.floor(remaining / length);
+    let used = Math.min(needed, sticks[i])
+    stickCount += used;
+    remaining -= used * length;
+  }
+  console.log('returned', remaining === 0 ? stickCount : -1)
+  return remaining === 0 ? stickCount : -1
+}
+
+const sticks = [1, 2, 3, 4];
+const k = 8;
+
+getMinSticks(sticks, 25)