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Minimum possible travel cost among N cities

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There are N cities situated on a straight road and each is separated by a distance of 1 unit. You have to reach the (N + 1)th city by boarding a bus. The ith city would cost of C[i] dollars to travel 1 unit of distance. In other words, cost to travel from the ith city to the jth city is abs(i – j ) * C[i] dollars. The task is to find the minimum cost to travel from city 1 to city (N + 1) i.e. beyond the last city.
Examples: 
 

Input: C[] = {3, 5, 4} 
Output:
The bus boarded from the first city has the minimum 
cost of all so it will be used to travel (N + 1) unit.
Input: C[] = {4, 7, 8, 3, 4} 
Output: 18 
Board the bus at the first city then change 
the bus at the fourth city. 
(3 * 4) + (2 * 3) = 12 + 6 = 18 
 

 

Approach: The approach is very simple, just travel by the bus which has the lowest cost so far. Whenever a bus with an even lower cost is found, change the bus from that city. Following are the steps to solve: 
 

  1. Start with the first city with a cost of C[1].
  2. Travel to the next city until a city j having cost less than the previous city (by which we are travelling, let’s say city i) is found.
  3. Calculate cost as abs(j – i) * C[i] and add it to the total cost so far.
  4. Repeat the previous steps until all the cities have been traversed.

Below is the implementation of the above approach: 
 

C++




// C++ implementation of the approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to return the minimum cost to
// travel from the first city to the last
int minCost(vector<int>& cost, int n)
{
 
    // To store the total cost
    int totalCost = 0;
 
    // Start from the first city
    int boardingBus = 0;
 
    for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) {
 
        // If found any city with cost less than
        // that of the previous boarded
        // bus then change the bus
        if (cost[boardingBus] > cost[i]) {
 
            // Calculate the cost to travel from
            // the currently boarded bus
            // till the current city
            totalCost += ((i - boardingBus) * cost[boardingBus]);
 
            // Update the currently boarded bus
            boardingBus = i;
        }
    }
 
    // Finally calculate the cost for the
    // last boarding bus till the (N + 1)th city
    totalCost += ((n - boardingBus) * cost[boardingBus]);
    return totalCost;
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    vector<int> cost{ 4, 7, 8, 3, 4 };
    int n = cost.size();
 
    cout << minCost(cost, n);
 
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java implementation of the approach
class GFG
{
 
// Function to return the minimum cost to
// travel from the first city to the last
static int minCost(int []cost, int n)
{
 
    // To store the total cost
    int totalCost = 0;
 
    // Start from the first city
    int boardingBus = 0;
 
    for (int i = 1; i < n; i++)
    {
 
        // If found any city with cost less than
        // that of the previous boarded
        // bus then change the bus
        if (cost[boardingBus] > cost[i])
        {
 
            // Calculate the cost to travel from
            // the currently boarded bus
            // till the current city
            totalCost += ((i - boardingBus) * cost[boardingBus]);
 
            // Update the currently boarded bus
            boardingBus = i;
        }
    }
 
    // Finally calculate the cost for the
    // last boarding bus till the (N + 1)th city
    totalCost += ((n - boardingBus) * cost[boardingBus]);
    return totalCost;
}
 
// Driver code
public static void main(String[] args)
{
    int []cost = { 4, 7, 8, 3, 4 };
    int n = cost.length;
 
    System.out.print(minCost(cost, n));
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by PrinciRaj1992


Python3




# Python3 implementation of the approach
 
# Function to return the minimum cost to
# travel from the first city to the last
def minCost(cost, n):
 
    # To store the total cost
    totalCost = 0
 
    # Start from the first city
    boardingBus = 0
 
    for i in range(1, n):
 
        # If found any city with cost less than
        # that of the previous boarded
        # bus then change the bus
        if (cost[boardingBus] > cost[i]):
 
            # Calculate the cost to travel from
            # the currently boarded bus
            # till the current city
            totalCost += ((i - boardingBus) *
                          cost[boardingBus])
 
            # Update the currently boarded bus
            boardingBus = i
 
    # Finally calculate the cost for the
    # last boarding bus till the (N + 1)th city
    totalCost += ((n - boardingBus) *
                  cost[boardingBus])
    return totalCost
 
# Driver code
cost = [ 4, 7, 8, 3, 4]
n = len(cost)
 
print(minCost(cost, n))
 
# This code is contributed by Mohit Kumar


C#




// C# implementation of the approach
using System;
 
class GFG
{
 
// Function to return the minimum cost to
// travel from the first city to the last
static int minCost(int []cost, int n)
{
 
    // To store the total cost
    int totalCost = 0;
 
    // Start from the first city
    int boardingBus = 0;
 
    for (int i = 1; i < n; i++)
    {
 
        // If found any city with cost less than
        // that of the previous boarded
        // bus then change the bus
        if (cost[boardingBus] > cost[i])
        {
 
            // Calculate the cost to travel from
            // the currently boarded bus
            // till the current city
            totalCost += ((i - boardingBus) *
                          cost[boardingBus]);
 
            // Update the currently boarded bus
            boardingBus = i;
        }
    }
 
    // Finally calculate the cost for the
    // last boarding bus till the (N + 1)th city
    totalCost += ((n - boardingBus) *
                  cost[boardingBus]);
    return totalCost;
}
 
// Driver code
public static void Main(String[] args)
{
    int []cost = { 4, 7, 8, 3, 4 };
    int n = cost.Length;
 
    Console.Write(minCost(cost, n));
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by 29AjayKumar


Javascript




<script>
// javascript implementation of the approach   
// Function to return the minimum cost to
    // travel from the first city to the last
    function minCost(cost , n) {
 
        // To store the total cost
        var totalCost = 0;
 
        // Start from the first city
        var boardingBus = 0;
 
        for (i = 1; i < n; i++) {
 
            // If found any city with cost less than
            // that of the previous boarded
            // bus then change the bus
            if (cost[boardingBus] > cost[i]) {
 
                // Calculate the cost to travel from
                // the currently boarded bus
                // till the current city
                totalCost += ((i - boardingBus) * cost[boardingBus]);
 
                // Update the currently boarded bus
                boardingBus = i;
            }
        }
 
        // Finally calculate the cost for the
        // last boarding bus till the (N + 1)th city
        totalCost += ((n - boardingBus) * cost[boardingBus]);
        return totalCost;
    }
 
    // Driver code
     
        var cost = [ 4, 7, 8, 3, 4 ];
        var n = cost.length;
 
        document.write(minCost(cost, n));
 
// This code contributed by umadevi9616
</script>


Output: 

18

 

Time Complexity: O(N)
Auxiliary Space: O(1)



Last Updated : 04 Aug, 2021
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