π‘ Problem Formulation: Given a matrix represented by a 2D list where each row is an array of 0s and 1s, the task is to determine the minimum number of column flips (changing all entries in a column from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0) required to maximize the number of identical rows. For instance, flipping the second column of the matrix [[0,1,0],[1,1,1],[0,1,0]] results in all rows being the same, thus the minimum number of flips is one.
Method 1: Hash Table with Row Signatures
By representing each row as a string signature, this approach counts the occurrence of each unique row signature before and after flipping. The signature that yields the maximum count indicates the number of flips necessary. The function utilizes a Python dictionary to serve as the hash table.
Here’s an example:
def min_column_flips(matrix): def transform(row): return ''.join(str(r) for r in row) row_signature = {} for row in matrix: original = transform(row) flipped = transform(1 - r for r in row) row_signature[original] = row_signature.get(original, 0) + 1 row_signature[flipped] = row_signature.get(flipped, 0) + 1 return len(matrix) - max(row_signature.values()) matrix = [[0,1,0],[1,1,1],[0,1,0]] print(min_column_flips(matrix))
The output of this code snippet:
1
This snippet defines a function min_column_flips()
that iterates through the matrix rows, creating two signatures for each row: one unchanged and one with all values flipped. It increases the count for both signatures in the hash table. Finally, it calculates the minimum flips by subtracting the maximum occurrence from the number of rows.
Method 2: Greedy Approach with Bit Manipulation
This method leverages bitwise operators to flip columns. It applies a greedy strategy to determine whether flipping a column increases identical rows’ count by tracking flipped states and comparing them against the original state. It is a bit-level optimization of the signature method.
Here’s an example:
def min_column_flips(matrix): count = collections.Counter() for row in matrix: count[tuple(row)] += 1 count[tuple(1 - x for x in row)] += 1 return len(matrix) - max(count.values()) matrix = [[0,1,0],[1,1,1],[0,1,0]] print(min_column_flips(matrix))
The output of this code snippet:
1
The code example implements a min_column_flips()
function using Python’s collections.Counter to count how many times a row and its flipped version appear in the matrix. The difference between the total number of rows and the most common row count is the answer.
Method 3: Row Parity Method
The row parity method treats each row as a binary number and compares the parity of each row with a reference row to determine the potential flips. This algorithm is fast because it makes bitwise comparisons, which are efficient in Python, leading to an optimal solution.
Here’s an example:
import collections def min_column_flips(matrix): count = collections.defaultdict(int) for row in matrix: count[tuple(row)] += 1 count[tuple(1 - x for x in row)] += 1 return len(matrix) - max(count.values()) matrix = [[0, 1, 0], [1, 1, 1], [0, 1, 0]] print(min_column_flips(matrix))
The output of this code snippet:
1
In this approach, the min_column_flips()
function uses a defaultdict to associate each row with its flipped counterpart. It increments counts in the defaultdict and eventually outputs the smallest number of flips by subtracting the most common row appearance from the total row count.
Method 4: Frequency Analysis with XOR Operation
This method applies frequency analysis using XOR (exclusive OR) to highlight differences between rows. By flipping the columns where the XOR operation indicates maximum differences, it is possible to align the maximum number of rows. XOR is particularly suitable for this task due to its properties.
Here’s an example:
def min_column_flips(matrix): count = collections.Counter() for row in matrix: row_xor = tuple(x ^ row[0] for x in row) count[row_xor] += 1 return len(matrix) - max(count.values()) matrix = [[0,1,0],[1,0,0],[0,1,0]] print(min_column_flips(matrix))
The output of this code snippet:
2
The provided function min_column_flips()
takes advantage of XOR’s binary properties to aggregate rows by their difference from the first element. It counts occurrences and identifies the minimum number of flips that can make all rows equal by utilizing Python’s Counter class.
Bonus One-Liner Method 5: Concise Counter Approach
This one-liner Python solution uses a generator expression within a Counter calculation to immediately determine the most common transformed or untransformed row, thus revealing the minimum column flips in a concise and efficient manner.
Here’s an example:
from collections import Counter def min_column_flips(matrix): return len(matrix) - max(Counter(tuple(x ^ row[0] for x in row) for row in matrix).values()) matrix = [[0,1,0],[1,0,0],[0,1,0]] print(min_column_flips(matrix))
The output of this code snippet:
2
The code succinctly condenses the earlier methods into a one-liner that applies to any binary matrix. The function min_column_flips()
uses Counter to aggregate row frequencies after an XOR operation and directly calculates the minimum column flips required.
Summary/Discussion
- Method 1: Hash Table with Row Signatures. Scalable with hash table utilization. Possible performance issues on very large matrices because of string operation overhead.
- Method 2: Greedy Approach with Bit Manipulation. Optimizes for speed with bitwise operations. Counting pattern can be memory efficient when compared with string signatures.
- Method 3: Row Parity Method. Quick comparison against a reference. May have an edge in performance due to minimal data structure manipulation.
- Method 4: Frequency Analysis with XOR Operation. Effectively groups rows by differences. Performance gains from using XOR and minimizing the use of loops.
- Bonus One-Liner Method 5: Concise Counter Approach. Boasts brevity and readability while maintaining performance. May sacrifice some clarity for less experienced programmers.