Find Maximum Number of Consecutive Values in Python

Suppose we have an array called coins with n elements, and it is representing the coins that we own. The value of the ith coin is denoted as coins[i]. We can make some value x if we can select some of our n coins such that their values sum up to x. We have to find the maximum number of consecutive values that we can get with the coins starting from and including 0.

So, if the input is like coins = [1,1,3,4], then the output will be 10, because

• 0 = []

• 1 = [1]

• 2 = [1,1]

• 3 = [3]

• 4 = [4]

• 5 = [4,1]

• 6 = [4,1,1]

• 7 = [4,3]

• 8 = [4,3,1]

• 9 = [4,3,1,1]

To solve this, we will follow these steps −

• sort the list coins

• ans := 1

• for each coin in coins, do

  • if coin > ans, then

    • come out from the loop

  • ans := ans + coin

• return ans

Example

Let us see the following implementation to get better understanding −

def solve(coins):
   coins.sort()
   ans = 1
   for coin in coins:
      if coin > ans:
         break
      ans+=coin
   return ans

coins = [1,1,3,4]
print(solve(coins))

Input

[1,1,3,4]

Output

10