I'm trying to return the largest element in the array. With strings this means the longest string. How do I return only the first instance of the largest element.
My code:
function getLongestElement(arr) {
var max = "";
var counter = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
if (arr[i].length > counter) max = arr[i]
}
return max;
}
getLongestElement(['one', 'two', 'three', "thre1"]); // "thre1" not "three".
I'm not quite sure whats wrong with this code. No matter what the largest value is it only returns the last element in the array. Help?
counter is initialized to 0, but you never change its value so the if statement with arr[i].length > counter is always true (unless arr[i].length == 0). To fix it you need to keep track of the largest element of the array inside the loop:
// I renamed counter to maxLength for readability
function getLongestElement(arr) {
var max;
var maxLength = -1;
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
if (arr[i].length > maxLength){
maxLength = arr[i].length;
max = i;
}
}
return arr[max];
}
First, good alghoritm should make no assumptions. That means your max shouldn't start from "", but using first array's element. You also don't edit your counter value, that's your main problem. But it is redundant and you can write this function without counter.
function getLongestElement(arr) {
if (arr.length < 1) return /* Some Exception */;
var max = arr[0];
for (var i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
if (arr[i].length > max.length) max = arr[i];
}
return max;
}
You forgot to update counter
function getLongestElement(arr) {
var max = "";
var counter = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
if (arr[i].length > counter) {
max = arr[i];
counter = max.length;
}
}
return max;
}
console.log(getLongestElement(['one', 'two', 'three', "thre1"])); // "thre1" not "three".
If you're looking for a pragmatic solution, I'd suggest lodash's _.maxBy:
_.maxBy(['one', 'two', 'three', "thre1"], function(str) {
return str.length;
})
If you're looking for a theoretical solution for the sake of learning,
function getLongestElement(arr) {
var max;
var counter = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
if (arr[i].length > counter) max = arr[i]
counter = Math.max(arr[i].length, counter)
}
return max;
}
The key point here is to make sure you're updating the counter variable to whatever the currently longest length is.
I'm working in JavaScript and this is a bit confusing because the code is returning the correct sum of primes. It is working with larger numbers. There is a bug where for 977 it returns the sum of primes for 976, which is 72179, instead of the sum for 977 which is 73156. Everything I've test so far has come back correctly.
function sumPrimes(num) {
var sum = 0;
var count = 0;
var array = [];
var upperLimit = Math.sqrt(num);
var output = [];
for (var i = 0; i < num; i++) {
array.push(true);
}
for (var j = 2; j <= upperLimit; j++) {
if (array[j]) {
for (var h = j * j; h < num; h += j) {
array[h] = false;
}
}
}
for (var k = 2; k < num; k++) {
if (array[k]) {
output.push(k);
}
}
for (var a = 0; a < output.length; a++) {
sum += output[a];
count++;
}
return sum;
}
sumPrimes(977);
The problem stems from the fact that your "seive" Array is indexed from 0, but your algorithm assumes that array[n] represents the number n.
Since you want array[n]===true to mean that n is prime, you need an Array of length 978 if you want the last item to be indexed as array[977] and mean the number 977.
The issue seems to be fixed when I change all instances of < num to < num+1.
Expanding code I've been working on for a supplement tracker but my current function is not returning accurate count of numbers greater than the average 'mean' nor the count of integers below the mean average. I've also commented out two questions within the code because I don't quite understand why the array is set to index[0]. I've learned much from the comments and searching for answers here. So thankful this site exists! Looking to learn a bit more hopefully with this question.
function suppArray() {
var nums = new Array(); //create array
var sum = 0; //variable to hold sum of integers in array
var avg = 0; //variable to hold the average
var i;
var count = 0;
var count2 = 0;
var contents = ''; //variable to hold contents for output
var dataPrompt = prompt("How many numbers do you want to enter?", "");
dataPrompt = parseInt(dataPrompt);
for(i = 0; i <= dataPrompt - 1; i++) { //loop to fill the array with numbers
nums[i] = prompt("Enter a number","");
nums[i] = parseInt(nums[i]);
contents += nums[i] + " "; //variable that will be called to display contents
sum = sum + nums[i];
}
avg = sum / nums.length;
for(i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) { //loop to find the largest number
var biggest = nums[0]; //why does this have to be index 0 and not 'i' ?
if(nums[i] > biggest)
biggest = nums[i]; //largest integer in array
}
for(i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) { //loop to find smallest integer
var smallest = nums[0]; //why does this have to be the index 0 and not 'i' ??
if(nums[i] < smallest)
smallest = nums[i]; //smallest integer in array
}
for(count = 0; count < nums.length; count++) { //count of numbers higher than average
if(nums[i] > avg)
count = nums[i];
}
for(count2 = 0; count2 < nums.length; count2++) { //count of numbers lower than average
if(nums[i] < avg)
count2 = nums[i];
}
}
Your function isn't returning the right values because you are assigning count or count2 inccorectly. If you run through your code at the end count and count2 will be equal to nums.length. This is because you are using them in the for loop. As well in the loops you reference i which is (I believe) also equal to nums.length at this point.
I think you want something like this:
count = 0;
count2 = 0;
for(i = 0; i < nums.length; i++)
{
if(nums[i] > avg)
{
count++; //Increase the count of numbers above the average
}
else if(nums[i] < avg)
{
count2++; //Increase the count of numbers below the average
}
}
You may want to do some reading on scope and the for loop as you seem a little confused on them.
Edit
If you want the biggest and smallest values in the array you can do something like this:
//Assign the values to the first element by default
var biggest = nums[0];
var smallest = nums[0];
for(var i = 1; i < nums.length; i++)
{
//Set biggest to the larger number, either biggest or the current number
biggest = Math.max(biggest, nums[i]);
//Set smallest to the smaller number, either biggest or the current number
smallest = Math.min(smallest, nums[i]);
}
Note: This assumes you have at least 1 value in the array
If I have n balls and k containers then this -> ( (n+k-1)! / n!(k-1)! ) will work out how many combinations there are.
I am having difficulty changing this to produce a list of all combinations in javascript.
In a function taking an array of balls and some amount of containers.
combinations([1,2,3,4,5,6], 3)
Each container can have any number of balls and containers can be empty.
Here is something i attempted but im only getting one ball in each container.
function generateCombinations(array, r, callback) {
function equal(a, b) {
for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
if (a[i] != b[i]) return false;
}
return true;
}
function values(i, a) {
var ret = [];
for (var j = 0; j < i.length; j++) ret.push(a[i[j]]);
return ret;
}
var n = array.length;
var indices = [];
for (var i = 0; i < r; i++) indices.push(i);
var final = [];
for (var i = n - r; i < n; i++) final.push(i);
while (!equal(indices, final)) {
callback(values(indices, array));
var i = r - 1;
while (indices[i] == n - r + i) i -= 1;
indices[i] += 1;
for (var j = i + 1; j < r; j++) indices[j] = indices[i] + j - i;
}
callback(values(indices, array));
}
count = 0
generateCombinations([1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1],3,function(first){
$("#hello").append(first+"<br />")
count = count +1
})
$("#hello").append(count)
You can do it in this way:
var containers = [];
// n - number of balls, k - number of containers
function dfs(n, k) {
// Ending point of recursion, all balls are placed
if(n == 0) {
var output = [];
for(var i = 0; i < k; i++) {
output.push('{' + containers[i].join(', ') + '}');
}
output = '[' + output.join(', ') + ']';
console.log(output);
return;
}
// Try to put ball #n
for(var i = 0; i < k; i++) {
containers[i].push(n);
// Now we have placed ball #n, so we have 1 .. n - 1 balls only
dfs(n - 1, k);
// Remove ball when back to use again
containers[i].pop();
}
}
var n = 4;
var k = 3;
for(var i = 0; i < k; i++) {
containers[i] = [];
}
dfs(n, k);
I initially thought you wanted all the combinations of k elements out of n, but your problem is different, it's partitioning n elements in k parts.
When going through the elements, at each steps, you may choose to put the current element in any container, that's k possibilities. In total, you will have kn possible solutions.
Therefore, it would be faster to iterate through all the solutions, rather than storing them in an array.
You can represent a solution as a unique number in base k, with n digits, and iterate through the solutions by incrementing that number.
In your example, the base is 3, and the number of digits is 6. The first solution is to put all the balls in container 0, ie.
000000
The next solution is to put all the balls in container 0, excepted the last which goes in container 1.
000001
...
000002
000010
000011
000020
Hopefully you should get the idea.
Edit: I'm sorry, but I forgot to mention that I'll need the values of the counter variables. So making one loop isn't a solution I'm afraid.
I'm not sure if this is possible at all, but I would like to do the following.
To a function, an array of numbers is passed. Each number is the upper limit of a for loop, for example, if the array is [2, 3, 5], the following code should be executed:
for(var a = 0; a < 2; a++) {
for(var b = 0; b < 3; b++) {
for(var c = 0; c < 5; c++) {
doSomething([a, b, c]);
}
}
}
So the amount of nested for loops is equal to the length of the array. Would there be any way to make this work? I was thinking of creating a piece of code which adds each for loop to a string, and then evaluates it through eval. I've read however that eval should not be one's first choice as it can have dangerous results too.
What technique might be appropriate here?
Recursion can solve this problem neatly:
function callManyTimes(maxIndices, func) {
doCallManyTimes(maxIndices, func, [], 0);
}
function doCallManyTimes(maxIndices, func, args, index) {
if (maxIndices.length == 0) {
func(args);
} else {
var rest = maxIndices.slice(1);
for (args[index] = 0; args[index] < maxIndices[0]; ++args[index]) {
doCallManyTimes(rest, func, args, index + 1);
}
}
}
Call it like this:
callManyTimes([2,3,5], doSomething);
Recursion is overkill here. You can use generators:
function* allPossibleCombinations(lengths) {
const n = lengths.length;
let indices = [];
for (let i = n; --i >= 0;) {
if (lengths[i] === 0) { return; }
if (lengths[i] !== (lengths[i] & 0x7fffffff)) { throw new Error(); }
indices[i] = 0;
}
while (true) {
yield indices;
// Increment indices.
++indices[n - 1];
for (let j = n; --j >= 0 && indices[j] === lengths[j];) {
if (j === 0) { return; }
indices[j] = 0;
++indices[j - 1];
}
}
}
for ([a, b, c] of allPossibleCombinations([3, 2, 2])) {
console.log(`${a}, ${b}, ${c}`);
}
The intuition here is that we keep a list of indices that are always less than the corresponding length.
The second loop handles carry. As when incrementing a decimal number 199, we go to (1, 9, 10), and then carry to get (1, 10, 0) and finally (2, 0, 0). If we don't have enough digits to carry into, we're done.
Set up an array of counters with the same length as the limit array. Use a single loop, and increment the last item in each iteration. When it reaches it's limit you restart it and increment the next item.
function loop(limits) {
var cnt = new Array(limits.length);
for (var i = 0; i < cnt.length; i++) cnt[i] = 0;
var pos;
do {
doSomething(cnt);
pos = cnt.length - 1;
cnt[pos]++;
while (pos >= 0 && cnt[pos] >= limits[pos]) {
cnt[pos] = 0;
pos--;
if (pos >= 0) cnt[pos]++;
}
} while (pos >= 0);
}
One solution that works without getting complicated programatically would be to take the integers and multiply them all. Since you're only nesting the ifs, and only the innermost one has functionality, this should work:
var product = 0;
for(var i = 0; i < array.length; i++){
product *= array[i];
}
for(var i = 0; i < product; i++){
doSomething();
}
Alternatively:
for(var i = 0; i < array.length; i++){
for(var j = 0; j < array[i]; j++){
doSomething();
}
}
Instead of thinking in terms of nested for loops, think about recursive function invocations. To do your iteration, you'd make the following decision (pseudo code):
if the list of counters is empty
then "doSomething()"
else
for (counter = 0 to first counter limit in the list)
recurse with the tail of the list
That might look something like this:
function forEachCounter(counters, fn) {
function impl(counters, curCount) {
if (counters.length === 0)
fn(curCount);
else {
var limit = counters[0];
curCount.push(0);
for (var i = 0; i < limit; ++i) {
curCount[curCount.length - 1] = i;
impl(counters.slice(1), curCount);
}
curCount.length--;
}
}
impl(counters, []);
}
You'd call the function with an argument that's your list of count limits, and an argument that's your function to execute for each effective count array (the "doSomething" part). The main function above does all the real work in an inner function. In that inner function, the first argument is the counter limit list, which will be "whittled down" as the function is called recursively. The second argument is used to hold the current set of counter values, so that "doSomething" can know that it's on an iteration corresponding to a particular list of actual counts.
Calling the function would look like this:
forEachCounter([4, 2, 5], function(c) { /* something */ });
This is my attempt at simplifying the non-recursive solution by Mike Samuel. I also add the ability to set a range (not just maximum) for every integer argument.
function everyPermutation(args, fn) {
var indices = args.map(a => a.min);
for (var j = args.length; j >= 0;) {
fn.apply(null, indices);
// go through indices from right to left setting them to 0
for (j = args.length; j--;) {
// until we find the last index not at max which we increment
if (indices[j] < args[j].max) {
++indices[j];
break;
}
indices[j] = args[j].min;
}
}
}
everyPermutation([
{min:4, max:6},
{min:2, max:3},
{min:0, max:1}
], function(a, b, c) {
console.log(a + ',' + b + ',' + c);
});
There's no difference between doing three loops of 2, 3, 5, and one loop of 30 (2*3*5).
function doLots (howMany, what) {
var amount = 0;
// Aggregate amount
for (var i=0; i<howMany.length;i++) {
amount *= howMany[i];
};
// Execute that many times.
while(i--) {
what();
};
}
Use:
doLots([2,3,5], doSomething);
You can use the greedy algorithm to enumerate all elements of the cartesian product 0:2 x 0:3 x 0:5. This algorithm is performed by my function greedy_backward below. I am not an expert in Javascript and maybe this function could be improved.
function greedy_backward(sizes, n) {
for (var G = [1], i = 0; i<sizes.length; i++) G[i+1] = G[i] * sizes[i];
if (n>=_.last(G)) throw new Error("n must be <" + _.last(G));
for (i = 0; i<sizes.length; i++) if (sizes[i]!=parseInt(sizes[i]) || sizes[i]<1){ throw new Error("sizes must be a vector of integers be >1"); };
for (var epsilon=[], i=0; i < sizes.length; i++) epsilon[i]=0;
while(n > 0){
var k = _.findIndex(G, function(x){ return n < x; }) - 1;
var e = (n/G[k])>>0;
epsilon[k] = e;
n = n-e*G[k];
}
return epsilon;
}
It enumerates the elements of the Cartesian product in the anti-lexicographic order (you will see the full enumeration in the doSomething example):
~ var sizes = [2, 3, 5];
~ greedy_backward(sizes,0);
0,0,0
~ greedy_backward(sizes,1);
1,0,0
~ greedy_backward(sizes,2);
0,1,0
~ greedy_backward(sizes,3);
1,1,0
~ greedy_backward(sizes,4);
0,2,0
~ greedy_backward(sizes,5);
1,2,0
This is a generalization of the binary representation (the case when sizes=[2,2,2,...]).
Example:
~ function doSomething(v){
for (var message = v[0], i = 1; i<v.length; i++) message = message + '-' + v[i].toString();
console.log(message);
}
~ doSomething(["a","b","c"])
a-b-c
~ for (var max = [1], i = 0; i<sizes.length; i++) max = max * sizes[i];
30
~ for(i=0; i<max; i++){
doSomething(greedy_backward(sizes,i));
}
0-0-0
1-0-0
0-1-0
1-1-0
0-2-0
1-2-0
0-0-1
1-0-1
0-1-1
1-1-1
0-2-1
1-2-1
0-0-2
1-0-2
0-1-2
1-1-2
0-2-2
1-2-2
0-0-3
1-0-3
0-1-3
1-1-3
0-2-3
1-2-3
0-0-4
1-0-4
0-1-4
1-1-4
0-2-4
1-2-4
If needed, the reverse operation is simple:
function greedy_forward(sizes, epsilon) {
if (sizes.length!=epsilon.length) throw new Error("sizes and epsilon must have the same length");
for (i = 0; i<sizes.length; i++) if (epsilon[i] <0 || epsilon[i] >= sizes[i]){ throw new Error("condition `0 <= epsilon[i] < sizes[i]` not fulfilled for all i"); };
for (var G = [1], i = 0; i<sizes.length-1; i++) G[i+1] = G[i] * sizes[i];
for (var n = 0, i = 0; i<sizes.length; i++) n += G[i] * epsilon[i];
return n;
}
Example :
~ epsilon = greedy_backward(sizes, 29)
1,2,4
~ greedy_forward(sizes, epsilon)
29
One could also use a generator for that:
function loop(...times) {
function* looper(times, prev = []) {
if(!times.length) {
yield prev;
return;
}
const [max, ...rest] = times;
for(let current = 0; current < max; current++) {
yield* looper(rest, [...prev, current]);
}
}
return looper(times);
}
That can then be used as:
for(const [j, k, l, m] of loop(1, 2, 3, 4)) {
//...
}