Solution: Minimum Space Wasted from Packaging
Understand how to minimize space wasted in packaging by sorting package sizes and applying binary search to efficiently match packages with supplier boxes. Explore calculating total waste and selecting the best supplier with detailed algorithmic steps and complexity analysis.
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Statement
You have n packages that need to be placed into boxes, with one package per box. There are m suppliers, and each supplier offers boxes of different sizes (with an infinite supply of each size). A package can only fit into a box if the size of the box is greater than or equal to the size of the package.
The sizes of the packages and boxes are provided as follows:
The sizes of the packages are given as an integer array,
packages, wherepackages[i]represents the size of thei-thpackage.The sizes of the boxes offered by the
j-thsupplier are given in a 2D array,boxes, whereboxes[j]is an array of distinct box sizes provided by that supplier.
You want to choose a single supplier and use boxes from them to minimize wasted space. The wasted space for a package is calculated as the difference between the box and package sizes. The total wasted space is the sum of the wasted space for all the packages.
Return the minimum wasted space by selecting the supplier whose boxes result in the least waste, or return
Constraints:
n == packages.length,m == boxes.lengthn,m...