Minimize the maximum frequency of Array elements by replacing them only once

Given an array A[] of length N, the task is to minimize the maximum frequency of any array element by performing the following operation only once:

• Choose any random set (say S) of indices i (0 ? i ? N-1) of the array such that every element of S is the same and 
• Replace every element of that index with any other number.

Examples:

Input: A[] = {1 ,4 ,4 ,1 ,4 , 4} 
Output: 2
Explanation: Choose index i = {1, 2} and perform the operation 
{ 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4 }? { 1, 5, 5, 1, 4, 4 }. 
The highest frequency is of element 4, 5 and 1 which is 2. 
This is the minimum possible value of highest frequency of an element.

Input: A[] = {5 ,5 ,5 ,5 ,5 } 
Output: 3

Approach: The problem can be solved based on the following observation: 

• Let N be the element with the maximum frequency in A[] and M be the element with the second maximum frequency in A[]. It is possible that M does not exist.
• If M exist then maximum frequency = freq_N. 
  • Indices such that A[i] = N, should be chosen because the final value of freq_N should be minimized and it is always better to replace with number(num) such that num ? M. Only a maximum of ? freq_N/2? elements should be replaced because if we replace more, then num becomes the new element with the maximum frequency
  • Hence, it is optimal to replace ? freq_N/2?  occurrences of N to some num ? M.Now, freq_N – ? freq_N/2? is the final frequency of N and freq_M  is the final frequency of M. 
  • The maximum among these two i.e. Max( freq_N – ? freq_N/2?, freq_M ) has to be the answer because the frequency of num = ?freq_N/2? ?( freq_N – ? freq_N/2?) = frequency of N .
• If M does not exist it means freq_M = 0 . So , the answer is freq_N – ? freq_N/2?.

Follow the below steps to implement the above idea:

• Find the frequency of the most frequent and the second most frequent element.
• Compare those frequencies.
  • Based on the frequency, follow the above conditions to find the minimized value of maximum frequency.

Below is the implementation of the above approach.

C++

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

// Function to minimize frequency of
// most frequent element
int minFreq(int arr[], int n)
{

    int b[n];
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        b[i] = 0;
    }
    unordered_map<int, int> mp;
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (mp.count(arr[i]) < 0) {
            mp[arr[i]] = 1;
        }
        else {
            mp[arr[i]]++;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (mp[arr[i]] != -1) {

            // Count frequency of each element
            b[i] = mp[arr[i]];
            mp[arr[i]] = -1;
        }
    }

    // Last index value is maximum
    // frequency of any element
    sort(b, b + n);
    if (b[n - 1] % 2 == 0) {
        b[n - 1] = b[n - 1] / 2;
    }
    else {
        b[n - 1] = (b[n - 1] + 1) / 2;
    }

    // Last index value is possible
    // minimum frequency of
    // most frequent element
    sort(b, b + n);
    return b[n - 1];
}

int main()
{

    int A[] = { 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4 };
    int N = sizeof(A) / sizeof(A[0]);

    // Function call
    cout << (minFreq(A, N));
    return 0;
}

// This code is contributed by akashish__

Java

// Java code to implement the approach
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

class GFG {

    // Function to minimize frequency of
    // most frequent element
    public static int minFreq(int arr[], int n)
    {

        int[] b = new int[n];
        Map<Integer, Integer> mp = new HashMap<>();
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            mp.put(arr[i], mp.get(arr[i]) == null
                               ? 1
                               : mp.get(arr[i]) + 1);
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            if (mp.get(arr[i]) != -1) {

                // Count frequency of each element
                b[i] = mp.get(arr[i]);
                mp.put(arr[i], -1);
            }
        }

        // Last index value is maximum
        // frequency of any element
        Arrays.sort(b);
        if (b[n - 1] % 2 == 0) {
            b[n - 1] = b[n - 1] / 2;
        }
        else {
            b[n - 1] = (b[n - 1] + 1) / 2;
        }

        // Last index value is possible
        // minimum frequency of
        // most frequent element
        Arrays.sort(b);
        return b[n - 1];
    }

      // Driver Code
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int A[] = { 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4 };
        int N = A.length;

        // Function call
        System.out.println(minFreq(A, N));
    }
}

Python3

# Python3 code to implement the above approach

# Function to minimize frequency of
# most frequent element
def minFreq(arr, n) :

    b = [0] * n;

    mp = dict.fromkeys(arr, 0);

    for i in range(n) :

        if arr[i] in mp :
            mp[arr[i]] +=1;

        else :
            mp[arr[i]] = 1;

    for i in range(n) :

        if (mp[arr[i]] != -1) :
            # Count frequency of each element
            b[i] = mp[arr[i]];
            mp[arr[i]] = -1;

    # Last index value is maximum
    # frequency of any element
    b.sort()

    if (b[n - 1] % 2 == 0) :
        b[n - 1] = b[n - 1] // 2;
    else :
        b[n - 1] = (b[n - 1] + 1) // 2;

    # Last index value is possible
    # minimum frequency of
    # most frequent element
    b.sort();
    return b[n - 1];

if __name__ == "__main__" :

    A = [ 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4 ];
    N = len(A);

    # Function call
    print(minFreq(A, N));

    # This code is contributed by AnkThon

C#

// C# code to implement the approach
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class GFG {

  // Function to minimize frequency of
  // most frequent element
  public static int minFreq(int[] arr, int n)
  {

    int[] b = new int[n];
    Dictionary<int, int> mp
      = new Dictionary<int, int>();
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
      if (mp.ContainsKey(arr[i]))
        mp[arr[i]]++;
      else
        mp.Add(arr[i], 1);
    }

    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
      if (mp[arr[i]] != -1) {

        // Count frequency of each element
        b[i] = mp[arr[i]];
        mp[arr[i]] = -1;
      }
    }

    // Last index value is maximum
    // frequency of any element
    Array.Sort(b);
    if (b[n - 1] % 2 == 0) {
      b[n - 1] = b[n - 1] / 2;
    }
    else {
      b[n - 1] = (b[n - 1] + 1) / 2;
    }

    // Last index value is possible
    // minimum frequency of
    // most frequent element
    Array.Sort(b);
    return b[n - 1];
  }

  // Driver Code
  public static void Main(String[] args)
  {
    int[] A = { 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4 };
    int N = A.Length;

    // Function call
    Console.WriteLine(minFreq(A, N));
  }
}

// This code is contributed by ukasp.

Javascript

<script>
// Javascript code to implement the approach

// Function to minimize frequency of
// most frequent element
function minFreq(arr, n) {

    let b = new Array(n).fill(0);
    let mp = new Map();
    for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (mp.has(arr[i])) {
            mp.set(arr[i], mp.get(arr[i]) + 1)
        } else {
            mp.set(arr[i], 1)
        }
    }

    for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (mp.get(arr[i]) != -1) {

            // Count frequency of each element
            b[i] = mp.get(arr[i]);
            mp.set(arr[i], -1);
        }
    }

    // Last index value is maximum
    // frequency of any element
    b.sort((a, b) => a - b);
    if (b[n - 1] % 2 == 0) {
        b[n - 1] = Math.floor(b[n - 1] / 2);
    }
    else {
        b[n - 1] = Math.floor((b[n - 1] + 1) / 2);
    }

    // Last index value is possible
    // minimum frequency of
    // most frequent element
    b.sort((a, b) => a - b);
    return b[n - 1];
}

// Driver Code

let A = [1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4];
let N = A.length;

// Function call
document.write(minFreq(A, N));

// This code is contributed by saurabh_jaiswal.
</script>

Output

2

Time Complexity: O(N * logN) //the inbuilt sort function takes N log N time to complete all operations, hence the overall time taken by the algorithm is N log N
Auxiliary Space: O(N) // an extra array is used and in the worst case all elements will be stored inside it the hence algorithm takes up linear space