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Predict the winner of a game by converting 0 to 1 turn by turn following the given rules

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Given a binary string str consisting of only 0 and 1, where 0 represent an unoccupied position and 1 represent an occupied position. Two players A and B have to occupy an unoccupied position (convert 0 to 1) turn by turn following the given rules:

  1. The player can only occupy the unoccupied position
  2. The player can only move to its adjacent position in every turn

If a player is not able to make a move on the turn he loses. Predict the winner of the game if both play optimally given that A makes the first move.

Example:

Input: str=”1000″
Output: A
Explanation: A makes first move and occupy position at 2nd index of the string(0 based index) then no matter which position B choose there will be only a single unoccupied position left which will be occupied by A in next turn and B can’t make further move hence A wins.

Input: str=”1001″
Output: B

 

Approach:

  1. Find the length of the two longest substrings of initial unoccupied positions (i.e. substring of 0s).
  2. If the length of the largest substring is even, then B will be the winner irrespective of the length of the second-largest substring. This is because A will always occupy the middle slot of the largest substring hence in this case it will have the same number of slots for the move as left for B in the given substring. A needs more slots than B to win the game, while in this case, both have an equal number of slots hence A will lose.
  3. If the length of the largest substring is odd then there can be two cases:
    • If the length of the second-largest substring is less than the number of slots of A in the largest substring (i.e. (n/2) + 1 where n is the size of the substring) then A will be the winner since B will always have a lesser number of slots to than A irrespective of his initial decision (to choose between largest or second-largest substring).
    • Else, B will be the winner as B can choose the second-largest substring to make the initial move and will have more slots available for further moves than A.
  4. Print the answer according to the above observation.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++




// C++ program for the above approach
 
#include <iostream>
#include <math.h>
 
using namespace std;
 
// Function to predict the winner
string predictWinner(string s)
{
    int n = s.length();
    int max1 = 0, max2 = 0;
    int curr = 0;
 
    // Loop through the string to find out
    // lengths of longest two substrings of 0s
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (s[i] == '0') {
            curr++;
        }
        else {
            if (max1 <= curr) {
                max2 = max1;
                max1 = curr;
            }
            else if ((curr < max1)
                     && (curr > max2)) {
                max2 = curr;
            }
 
            curr = 0;
        }
    }
    if (curr > 0) {
        if (max1 <= curr) {
            max2 = max1;
            max1 = curr;
        }
        else if ((curr < max1)
                 && (curr > max2)) {
            max2 = curr;
        }
    }
 
    // If longest substring
    // of 0s is of even length
    // then B will always be the winner
    if (max1 % 2 == 0) {
        return "B";
    }
 
    // Slot for A's moves
    // will be half the total
    // number of slots plus
    // one in longest substring
    int left = ceil((float)max1 / 2);
 
    // If slots for A's moves
    // are more than slots in
    // second largest substring
    // then A will be the
    // winner else B will be winner
    if (left > max2) {
        return "A";
    }
 
    return "B";
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    string s = "1000";
    string ans = predictWinner(s);
    cout << ans;
    return 0;
}


C




// C program for the above approach
#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>
 
// Function to predict the winner
char predictWinner(char s[], int n)
{
    int max1 = 0, max2 = 0;
    int curr = 0;
 
    // Loop through the string to find out
    // lengths of longest two substrings of 0s
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (s[i] == '0') {
            curr++;
        }
        else {
            if (max1 <= curr) {
                max2 = max1;
                max1 = curr;
            }
            else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
                max2 = curr;
            }
 
            curr = 0;
        }
    }
    if (curr > 0) {
        if (max1 <= curr) {
            max2 = max1;
            max1 = curr;
        }
        else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
            max2 = curr;
        }
    }
 
    // If longest substring
    // of 0s is of even length
    // then B will always be the winner
    if (max1 % 2 == 0) {
        return 'B';
    }
 
    // Slot for A's moves
    // will be half the total
    // number of slots plus
    // one in longest substring
    int left = ceil((float)max1 / 2);
 
    // If slots for A's moves
    // are more than slots in
    // second largest substring
    // then A will be the
    // winner else B will be winner
    if (left > max2) {
        return 'A';
    }
 
    return 'B';
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    char s[] = "1000";
    int n = 4;
    char ans = predictWinner(s, n);
    printf("%c", ans);
    return 0;
}
 
// This code is contributed by saxenaanjali239.


Java




// Java program for the above approach
import java.lang.Math;
import java.util.*;
 
public class GeeksForGeeks
{
   
    // Function to predict the winner
    public static String predictWinner(String s)
    {
        int n = s.length();
        int max1 = 0, max2 = 0;
        int curr = 0;
 
        // Loop through the string to find out
        // lengths of longest two substrings of 0s
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            if (s.charAt(i) == '0') {
                curr++;
            }
            else {
                if (max1 <= curr) {
                    max2 = max1;
                    max1 = curr;
                }
                else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
                    max2 = curr;
                }
 
                curr = 0;
            }
        }
        if (curr > 0) {
            if (max1 <= curr) {
                max2 = max1;
                max1 = curr;
            }
            else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
                max2 = curr;
            }
        }
 
        // If longest substring
        // of 0s is of even length
        // then B will always be the winner
        if (max1 % 2 == 0) {
            return "B";
        }
 
        // Slot for A's moves
        // will be half the total
        // number of slots plus
        // one in longest substring
        int left = (int)Math.ceil((float)max1 / 2);
 
        // If slots for A's moves
        // are more than slots in
        // second largest substring
        // then A will be the
        // winner else B will be winner
        if (left > max2) {
            return "A";
        }
 
        return "B";
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        String s = "1000";
        String ans = predictWinner(s);
        System.out.println(ans);
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by saxenaanjali239.


Python




# Python program for the above approach
import math
 
def predictWinner(s, n):
 
    max1 = 0
    max2 = 0
    curr = 0
    i = 0
 
    # Loop through the string to find out
    # lengths of longest two substrings of 0s
    for i in range(n):
        if s[i] == '0':
            curr += 1
        else:
            if max1 <= curr:
                max2 = max1
                max1 = curr
            elif (curr < max1) and (curr > max2):
                max2 = curr
 
            curr = 0
 
    if curr > 0:
        if max1 <= curr:
            max2 = max1
            max1 = curr
        elif (curr < max1) and (curr > max2):
            max2 = curr
 
    # If longest substring
    # of 0s is of even length
    # then B will always be the winner
    if max1 % 2 == 0:
        return "B"
 
    # Slot for A's moves
    # will be half the total
    # number of slots plus
    # one in longest substring
    left = math.ceil(max1 / 2)
 
    # If slots for A's moves
    # are more than slots in
    # second largest substring
    # then A will be the
    # winner else B will be winner
    if left > max2:
        return "A"
 
    return "B"
 
# Driver program to test the above function
s = "1000"
n = len(s)
ans = predictWinner(s, n)
print(ans)
 
# This code is contributed by saxenaanjali239.


C#




// C# program for the above approach
using System;
 
class GeeksForGeeks
{
   
    // Function to predict the winner
    static string predictWinner(string s)
    {
        int n = s.Length;
        int max1 = 0, max2 = 0;
        int curr = 0;
 
        // Loop through the string to find out
        // lengths of longest two substrings of 0s
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            if (s[i] == '0') {
                curr++;
            }
            else {
                if (max1 <= curr) {
                    max2 = max1;
                    max1 = curr;
                }
                else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
                    max2 = curr;
                }
 
                curr = 0;
            }
        }
        if (curr > 0) {
            if (max1 <= curr) {
                max2 = max1;
                max1 = curr;
            }
            else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
                max2 = curr;
            }
        }
 
        // If longest substring
        // of 0s is of even length
        // then B will always be the winner
        if (max1 % 2 == 0) {
            return "B";
        }
 
        // Slot for A's moves
        // will be half the total
        // number of slots plus
        // one in longest substring
        int left = (int)Math.Ceiling((float)max1 / 2);
 
        // If slots for A's moves
        // are more than slots in
        // second largest substring
        // then A will be the
        // winner else B will be winner
        if (left > max2) {
            return "A";
        }
 
        return "B";
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void Main()
    {
        string s = "1000";
        string ans = predictWinner(s);
        Console.Write(ans);
    }
}
// This code is contributed by Samim Hossain Mondal.


Javascript




<script>
// Javascript program for the above approach
 
// Function to predict the winner
function predictWinner(s)
{
    let n = s.length;
    let max1 = 0, max2 = 0;
    let curr = 0;
 
    // Loop through the string to find out
    // lengths of longest two substrings of 0s
    for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (s[i] == '0') {
            curr++;
        }
        else {
            if (max1 <= curr) {
                max2 = max1;
                max1 = curr;
            }
            else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
                max2 = curr;
            }
                curr = 0;
        }
    }
    if (curr > 0) {
        if (max1 <= curr) {
            max2 = max1;
            max1 = curr;
        }
        else if ((curr < max1) && (curr > max2)) {
            max2 = curr;
        }
    }
     
    // If longest substring
    // of 0s is of even length
    // then B will always be the winner
    if (max1 % 2 == 0) {
        return "B";
    }
 
    // Slot for A's moves
    // will be half the total
    // number of slots plus
    // one in longest substring
    let left = Math.ceil(max1 / 2);
     
    // If slots for A's moves
    // are more than slots in
    // second largest substring
    // then A will be the
    // winner else B will be winner
    if (left > max2) {
        return "A";
    }
 
    return "B";
}
 
// Driver Code
 
let s = "1000";
let ans = predictWinner(s);
document.write(ans);
 
// This code is contributed by Samim Hossain Mondal.
</script>


Output

A

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



Last Updated : 17 Jan, 2022
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