Minimum Operations to Make Array Values Equal to K

Easy

You receive an integer array nums and an integer k.

An integer h is called valid if all values in the array that are strictly greater than h are identical.

For example, if nums = [10, 8, 10, 8], a valid integer is h = 9 because all nums[i] > 9 are equal to 10, but 5 is not a valid integer.

You are allowed to perform the following operation on nums:

Select an integer h that is valid for the current values in nums.
For each index i where nums[i] > h, set nums[i] to h.

Find and provide the minimum count of operations required to make every element in nums equal to k. If it is imvalid to make all elements equal to k, provide -1.

Example 1

Input: nums = [5,2,5,4,5], k = 2

Output: 2

Explanation: The operations can be performed in order using valid integers 4 and then 2.

Example 2

Input: nums = [2,1,2], k = 2

Output: -1

Explanation: It is imvalid to make all the values equal to 2.

Example 3

Input: nums = [9,7,5,3], k = 1

Output: 4

Explanation: The operations can be performed using valid integers in the order 7, 5, 3, and 1.

Minimum Operations to Make Array Values Equal to K

Constraints

Did this problem appear in one of your interviews?

Acceptance rate: 0%