TopCoder problem "CircularLine" used in SRM 399 (Division II Level One)



Problem Statement

    

There's a circular subway line that contains n stations numbered 0 through n-1. The time to travel between stations 0 and 1 is t[0], the time to travel between stations 1 and 2 is t[1], ..., the time to travel between stations n-1 and 0 is t[n-1]. You can travel between stations in either direction, so there are always two ways to get from one station to another without visiting the same station more than once. For example, if there are 4 stations, the two ways of getting from station 1 to station 3 are 1-2-3 and 1-0-3. The total travel time in the first case is t[1] + t[2], and in the second case, it is t[0] + t[3]. When a person needs to get from one station to another, she always chooses the faster of the two ways.

You are given a int[] t. Find two stations such that the fastest travel time between them is the maximal possible. Return this time.

 

Definition

    
Class:CircularLine
Method:longestTravel
Parameters:int[]
Returns:int
Method signature:int longestTravel(int[] t)
(be sure your method is public)
    
 

Constraints

-t will contain between 3 and 50 elements, inclusive.
-Each element of t will be between 1 and 1000, inclusive.
 

Examples

0)
    
{1,1,1,1}
Returns: 2
1)
    
{1,4,4,1,5}
Returns: 7
The longest travel time is between stations 1 and 3.
2)
    
{1,1,1000}
Returns: 2
You must never travel from station 2 to station 0 using the 1000 segment.
3)
    
{1,1000,1,1000}
Returns: 1001
4)
    
{1,1,1,1,4}
Returns: 4

Problem url:

http://www.topcoder.com/stat?c=problem_statement&pm=8761

Problem stats url:

http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=ProblemDetail&rd=12171&pm=8761

Writer:

andrewzta

Testers:

PabloGilberto , Olexiy , marek.cygan , ivan_metelsky

Problem categories:

Simple Search, Iteration