Solution: Minimum Cost to Connect Sticks
Explore how to calculate the minimum cost of connecting sticks by repeatedly merging the two shortest sticks using a min heap. Understand the algorithm's logic, implementation with heapq, and its time and space complexity for optimal problem solving.
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Statement
You are given a set of sticks with positive integer lengths represented as an array, sticks, where sticks[i] denotes the length of the
You can connect any two sticks into one stick at a cost equal to the sum of their lengths. Once two sticks are combined, they form a new stick whose length is the sum of the two original sticks. This process continues until there is only one stick remaining.
Your task is to determine the minimum cost required to connect all the sticks into a single stick.
Constraints:
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