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patternjavaMajor

Codility Frog Jump - Count minimal number of jumps from position X to Y

Submitted by: @import:stackexchange-codereview··
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numberjumppositioncodilityfrogminimalcountfromjumps

Problem

Here is a question I tried from the Codility train website:


A small frog wants to get to the other side of the road. The frog is
currently located at position X and wants to get to a position greater
than or equal to Y. The small frog always jumps a fixed distance, D.
Count the minimal number of jumps that the small frog must perform to
reach its target.


Write a function:

class Solution { public int solution(int X, int Y, int D); }




that, given three integers X, Y and D, returns the minimal number of
jumps from position X to a position equal to or greater than Y.


For example, given:


X = 10 Y = 85 D = 30


the function should return 3, because the frog will be positioned as
follows: after the first jump, at position 10 + 30 = 40 after the
second jump, at position 10 + 30 + 30 = 70 after the third jump, at
position 10 + 30 + 30 + 30 = 100

Assume that:
X, Y and D are integers within the range [1..1,000,000,000];
X ≤ Y.
Complexity:
expected worst-case time complexity is O(1);
expected worst-case space complexity is O(1).


This is the solution I gave which fetched me 50% and time complexity of O(Y-X). Can anyone please suggest a better solution?

class Solution {
//X=start, Y=end, D=distance for code clarity
public int solution(int start, int end, int distance) {

// write your code in Java SE 7
int progress = start;
int count=0;
while(progress<end) {
progress=progress+distance;
count++;
}
return count;
}
}

Solution

You don't need a loop for this, there is a mathematical solution:

  • If y - x is divisible by d, then it takes (y - x) / d jumps



  • If y - x is not divisible by d, then it takes (y - x) / d + 1 jumps



In other words:

if ((y - x) % d == 0) {
    return (y - x) / d;
}
return (y - x) / d + 1;


Or the somewhat less readable but more compact:

return (y - x) / d + ((y - x) % d == 0 ? 0 : 1);

Code Snippets

if ((y - x) % d == 0) {
    return (y - x) / d;
}
return (y - x) / d + 1;
return (y - x) / d + ((y - x) % d == 0 ? 0 : 1);

Context

StackExchange Code Review Q#46699, answer score: 24

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