Microsoft | OA Coding Questions and Solutions | Set - 4| 2022

Question

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Answer 1

Microsoft Online Assessment (OA) - Min Steps to Make Piles Equal Height

Given N piles of equal or unequal heights. In one step, You can remove any number of boxes from the pile which has the maximum height and try to make it equal to the one which is just lower than the maximum height of the stack. Determine the minimum number of steps required to make all of the piles equal in height.

Example 1:

Input: [5, 2, 1]

Output: 3

Explanation:

Step 1: reducing 5 -> 2 = [2, 2, 1] Step 2: reducing 2 -> 1 = [2, 1, 1] Step 3: reducing 2 -> 1 = [1, 1, 1]

Answer 2

Microsoft Online Assessment (OA) - Minimum Adjacent Swaps to Make Palindrome

Given a string, what is the minimum number of adjacent swaps required to convert a string into a palindrome. If not possible, return -1.

Example 1:

Input: mamad

Output: 3

Explanation:

swap m with a => maamd

swap m with d => maadm

swap a with d => madam

Example 2:

Input: asflkj

Output: -1

Example 3:

Input: mideld

Output: 3

Explanation:

swap e with l => midled

swap e with d => midlde

swap l with d => middle