Open In App

Count of ways to distribute N items among 3 people with one person receiving maximum

Improve
Improve
Like Article
Like
Save
Share
Report

Given an integer N, the task is to find the total number of ways to distribute N among 3 people such that: 
 

  • Exactly one person gets the maximum number of items among all the 3 people.
  • Each person gets at least 1 item.

Examples: 
 

Input: N = 5 
Output:
Explanation: 
3 ways to distribute the item among 3 people are {1, 1, 3}, {1, 3, 1} and {3, 1, 1}. 
Distributions like {1, 2, 2} or {2, 1, 2} are not valid as two persons are getting the maximum.
Input: N = 10 
Output: 33 
Explanation: 
For the Input N = 10 there are 33 ways of distribution. 
 

 

Approach: 
To solve the problem mentioned above, we have to observe that if N < 4, then such a distribution is not possible. 
For all values of N ? 4, follow the steps to solve the problem: 
 

  • Total no of ways to distribute N items among 3 people is given by (N – 1) * (N – 2) / 2.
  • Initialize a variable s = 0 which stores the count of ways the distribution is not possible.
  • Iterate two nested loops, where i ranges between [2, N – 3] and j ranging upto i
    • For each iteration, check if N = 2 * i + j, that is 2 persons can receive the maximum number of elements
    • If so, then increment s by 1. If N is divisible by 3, update s by 3 * s + 1. Otherwise, update to 3 * s.
  • Finally, return ans – s as the total number of ways to distribute N items among three people.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:
 

C++




// C++ program to find the number
// of ways to distribute N item
// among three people such
// that one person always gets
// the maximum value
 
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to find the number
// of ways to distribute N
// items among 3 people
int countWays(int N)
{
    // No distribution
    // possible
    if (N < 4)
        return 0;
 
    // Total number of ways to
    // distribute N items
    // among 3 people
    int ans = ((N - 1) * (N
                          - 2))
              / 2;
 
    // Store the number of
    // distributions which
    // are not possible
    int s = 0;
 
    for (int i = 2; i <= N - 3;
         i++) {
        for (int j = 1; j < i;
             j++) {
 
            // Count possibilities
            // of two persons
            // receiving the
            // maximum
            if (N == 2 * i + j)
                s++;
        }
    }
 
    // If N is divisible by 3
    if (N % 3 == 0)
        s = 3 * s + 1;
 
    else
        s = 3 * s;
 
    // Return the final
    // count of ways
    // to distribute
    return ans - s;
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    int N = 10;
    cout << countWays(N);
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java program to find the number
// of ways to distribute N item
// among three people such
// that one person always gets
// the maximum value
class GFG{
 
// Function to find the number
// of ways to distribute N
// items among 3 people
static int countWays(int N)
{
    // No distribution
    // possible
    if (N < 4)
        return 0;
 
    // Total number of ways to
    // distribute N items
    // among 3 people
    int ans = ((N - 1) * (N - 2)) / 2;
 
    // Store the number of
    // distributions which
    // are not possible
    int s = 0;
 
    for (int i = 2; i <= N - 3; i++)
    {
        for (int j = 1; j < i; j++)
        {
 
            // Count possibilities
            // of two persons
            // receiving the
            // maximum
            if (N == 2 * i + j)
                s++;
        }
    }
 
    // If N is divisible by 3
    if (N % 3 == 0)
        s = 3 * s + 1;
    else
        s = 3 * s;
 
    // Return the final
    // count of ways
    // to distribute
    return ans - s;
}
 
// Driver Code
public static void main(String[] args)
{
    int N = 10;
    System.out.println(countWays(N));
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by rock_cool


Python3




# Python3 program to find the number
# of ways to distribute N item
# among three people such
# that one person always gets
# the maximum value
 
# Function to find the number
# of ways to distribute N
# items among 3 people
def countWays(N):
     
    # No distribution
    # possible
    if (N < 4):
        return 0
 
    # Total number of ways to
    # distribute N items
    # among 3 people
    ans = ((N - 1) * (N - 2)) // 2
 
    # Store the number of
    # distributions which
    # are not possible
    s = 0
 
    for i in range( 2, N - 2, 1):
        for j in range( 1, i, 1):
             
            # Count possibilities
            # of two persons
            # receiving the
            # maximum
            if (N == 2 * i + j):
                s += 1
 
    # If N is divisible by 3
    if (N % 3 == 0):
        s = 3 * s + 1
 
    else:
        s = 3 * s
 
    # Return the final
    # count of ways
    # to distribute
    return ans - s
 
# Driver Code
N = 10
 
print (countWays(N))
     
# This code is contributed by sanjoy_62


C#




// C# program to find the number
// of ways to distribute N item
// among three people such
// that one person always gets
// the maximum value
using System;
class GFG{
 
// Function to find the number
// of ways to distribute N
// items among 3 people
static int countWays(int N)
{
    // No distribution
    // possible
    if (N < 4)
        return 0;
 
    // Total number of ways to
    // distribute N items
    // among 3 people
    int ans = ((N - 1) * (N - 2)) / 2;
 
    // Store the number of
    // distributions which
    // are not possible
    int s = 0;
 
    for (int i = 2; i <= N - 3; i++)
    {
        for (int j = 1; j < i; j++)
        {
 
            // Count possibilities
            // of two persons
            // receiving the
            // maximum
            if (N == 2 * i + j)
                s++;
        }
    }
 
    // If N is divisible by 3
    if (N % 3 == 0)
        s = 3 * s + 1;
    else
        s = 3 * s;
 
    // Return the final
    // count of ways
    // to distribute
    return ans - s;
}
 
// Driver Code
public static void Main()
{
    int N = 10;
    Console.Write(countWays(N));
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by Code_Mech


Javascript




<script>
 
    // Javascript program to find the number
    // of ways to distribute N item
    // among three people such
    // that one person always gets
    // the maximum value
     
    // Function to find the number
    // of ways to distribute N
    // items among 3 people
    function countWays(N)
    {
        // No distribution
        // possible
        if (N < 4)
            return 0;
 
        // Total number of ways to
        // distribute N items
        // among 3 people
        let ans = ((N - 1) * (N - 2)) / 2;
 
        // Store the number of
        // distributions which
        // are not possible
        let s = 0;
 
        for (let i = 2; i <= N - 3; i++) {
            for (let j = 1; j < i; j++) {
 
                // Count possibilities
                // of two persons
                // receiving the
                // maximum
                if (N == 2 * i + j)
                    s++;
            }
        }
 
        // If N is divisible by 3
        if (N % 3 == 0)
            s = 3 * s + 1;
 
        else
            s = 3 * s;
 
        // Return the final
        // count of ways
        // to distribute
        return ans - s;
    }
 
    let N = 10;
    document.write(countWays(N));
     
</script>


Output: 

33

 

Time complexity: O(N2
Auxiliary Space: O(1)
 



Last Updated : 29 Dec, 2022
Like Article
Save Article
Previous
Next
Share your thoughts in the comments
Similar Reads