Delete Minimum - codepath/compsci_guides GitHub Wiki

Unit 3 Session 2 (Click for link to problem statements)

Problem Highlights

• 💡 Difficulty: Easy
• ⏰ Time to complete: 10-15 mins
• 🛠️ Topics: List manipulation, Iteration, Finding minimum element, Removing elements

U-nderstand

Understand what the interviewer is asking for by using test cases and questions about the problem.

• What if there are duplicate elements?
  • Duplicates can be removed in any order.

P-lan

Plan the solution with appropriate visualizations and pseudocode.

General Idea: While there is still something in the original list, find the smallest value and remove it.

1) Create an empty list for removal order
2) While the input list is not empty:
  a) Find the minimum element
  b) Remove it from the input list
  c) Add it to the removal list
3) Return the removal list

I-mplement

def delete_minimum_elements(nums):
    removed_order = []
    while nums:
        min_val = min(nums)
        nums.remove(min_val)
        removed_order.append(min_val)
    return removed_order