Check if at least two out of three booleans are true
An interviewer recently asked me this question: given three boolean variables, a, b, and c, return true if at least two out of the three are true.
My solution follows:
boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
if ((a && b) || (b && c) || (a && c)) {
return true;
}
else{
return false;
}
}
He said that this can be improved further, but how?
Solution 1:
Rather than writing:
if (someExpression) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
Write:
return someExpression;
As for the expression itself, something like this:
boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
return a ? (b || c) : (b && c);
}
or this (whichever you find easier to grasp):
boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
return a && (b || c) || (b && c);
}
It tests a and b exactly once, and c at most once.
References
- JLS 15.25 Conditional Operator ? :
Solution 2:
Just for the sake of using XOR to answer a relatively straight-forward problem...
return a ^ b ? c : a
Solution 3:
Why not implement it literally? :)
(a?1:0)+(b?1:0)+(c?1:0) >= 2
In C you could just write a+b+c >= 2 (or !!a+!!b+!!c >= 2 to be very safe).
In response to TofuBeer's comparison of java bytecode, here is a simple performance test:
class Main
{
static boolean majorityDEAD(boolean a,boolean b,boolean c)
{
return a;
}
static boolean majority1(boolean a,boolean b,boolean c)
{
return a&&b || b&&c || a&&c;
}
static boolean majority2(boolean a,boolean b,boolean c)
{
return a ? b||c : b&&c;
}
static boolean majority3(boolean a,boolean b,boolean c)
{
return a&b | b&c | c&a;
}
static boolean majority4(boolean a,boolean b,boolean c)
{
return (a?1:0)+(b?1:0)+(c?1:0) >= 2;
}
static int loop1(boolean[] data, int i, int sz1, int sz2)
{
int sum = 0;
for(int j=i;j<i+sz1;j++)
{
for(int k=j;k<j+sz2;k++)
{
sum += majority1(data[i], data[j], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority1(data[i], data[k], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority1(data[j], data[k], data[i])?1:0;
sum += majority1(data[j], data[i], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority1(data[k], data[i], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority1(data[k], data[j], data[i])?1:0;
}
}
return sum;
}
static int loop2(boolean[] data, int i, int sz1, int sz2)
{
int sum = 0;
for(int j=i;j<i+sz1;j++)
{
for(int k=j;k<j+sz2;k++)
{
sum += majority2(data[i], data[j], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority2(data[i], data[k], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority2(data[j], data[k], data[i])?1:0;
sum += majority2(data[j], data[i], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority2(data[k], data[i], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority2(data[k], data[j], data[i])?1:0;
}
}
return sum;
}
static int loop3(boolean[] data, int i, int sz1, int sz2)
{
int sum = 0;
for(int j=i;j<i+sz1;j++)
{
for(int k=j;k<j+sz2;k++)
{
sum += majority3(data[i], data[j], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority3(data[i], data[k], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority3(data[j], data[k], data[i])?1:0;
sum += majority3(data[j], data[i], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority3(data[k], data[i], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority3(data[k], data[j], data[i])?1:0;
}
}
return sum;
}
static int loop4(boolean[] data, int i, int sz1, int sz2)
{
int sum = 0;
for(int j=i;j<i+sz1;j++)
{
for(int k=j;k<j+sz2;k++)
{
sum += majority4(data[i], data[j], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority4(data[i], data[k], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority4(data[j], data[k], data[i])?1:0;
sum += majority4(data[j], data[i], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majority4(data[k], data[i], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majority4(data[k], data[j], data[i])?1:0;
}
}
return sum;
}
static int loopDEAD(boolean[] data, int i, int sz1, int sz2)
{
int sum = 0;
for(int j=i;j<i+sz1;j++)
{
for(int k=j;k<j+sz2;k++)
{
sum += majorityDEAD(data[i], data[j], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majorityDEAD(data[i], data[k], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majorityDEAD(data[j], data[k], data[i])?1:0;
sum += majorityDEAD(data[j], data[i], data[k])?1:0;
sum += majorityDEAD(data[k], data[i], data[j])?1:0;
sum += majorityDEAD(data[k], data[j], data[i])?1:0;
}
}
return sum;
}
static void work()
{
boolean [] data = new boolean [10000];
java.util.Random r = new java.util.Random(0);
for(int i=0;i<data.length;i++)
data[i] = r.nextInt(2) > 0;
long t0,t1,t2,t3,t4,tDEAD;
int sz1 = 100;
int sz2 = 100;
int sum = 0;
t0 = System.currentTimeMillis();
for(int i=0;i<data.length-sz1-sz2;i++)
sum += loop1(data, i, sz1, sz2);
t1 = System.currentTimeMillis();
for(int i=0;i<data.length-sz1-sz2;i++)
sum += loop2(data, i, sz1, sz2);
t2 = System.currentTimeMillis();
for(int i=0;i<data.length-sz1-sz2;i++)
sum += loop3(data, i, sz1, sz2);
t3 = System.currentTimeMillis();
for(int i=0;i<data.length-sz1-sz2;i++)
sum += loop4(data, i, sz1, sz2);
t4 = System.currentTimeMillis();
for(int i=0;i<data.length-sz1-sz2;i++)
sum += loopDEAD(data, i, sz1, sz2);
tDEAD = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("a&&b || b&&c || a&&c : " + (t1-t0) + " ms");
System.out.println(" a ? b||c : b&&c : " + (t2-t1) + " ms");
System.out.println(" a&b | b&c | c&a : " + (t3-t2) + " ms");
System.out.println(" a + b + c >= 2 : " + (t4-t3) + " ms");
System.out.println(" DEAD : " + (tDEAD-t4) + " ms");
System.out.println("sum: "+sum);
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException
{
while(true)
{
work();
Thread.sleep(1000);
}
}
}
This prints the following on my machine (running Ubuntu on Intel Core 2 + sun java 1.6.0_15-b03 with HotSpot Server VM (14.1-b02, mixed mode)):
First and second iterations:
a&&b || b&&c || a&&c : 1740 ms
a ? b||c : b&&c : 1690 ms
a&b | b&c | c&a : 835 ms
a + b + c >= 2 : 348 ms
DEAD : 169 ms
sum: 1472612418
Later iterations:
a&&b || b&&c || a&&c : 1638 ms
a ? b||c : b&&c : 1612 ms
a&b | b&c | c&a : 779 ms
a + b + c >= 2 : 905 ms
DEAD : 221 ms
I wonder, what could java VM do that degrades performance over time for (a + b + c >= 2) case.
And here is what happens if I run java with a -client VM switch:
a&&b || b&&c || a&&c : 4034 ms
a ? b||c : b&&c : 2215 ms
a&b | b&c | c&a : 1347 ms
a + b + c >= 2 : 6589 ms
DEAD : 1016 ms
Mystery...
And if I run it in GNU Java Interpreter, it gets almost 100 times slower, but the a&&b || b&&c || a&&c version wins then.
Results from Tofubeer with the latest code running OS X:
a&&b || b&&c || a&&c : 1358 ms
a ? b||c : b&&c : 1187 ms
a&b | b&c | c&a : 410 ms
a + b + c >= 2 : 602 ms
DEAD : 161 ms
Results from Paul Wagland with a Mac Java 1.6.0_26-b03-383-11A511
a&&b || b&&c || a&&c : 394 ms
a ? b||c : b&&c : 435 ms
a&b | b&c | c&a : 420 ms
a + b + c >= 2 : 640 ms
a ^ b ? c : a : 571 ms
a != b ? c : a : 487 ms
DEAD : 170 ms
Solution 4:
This kind of questions can be solved with a Karnaugh Map:
| C | !C
------|---|----
A B | 1 | 1
A !B | 1 | 0
!A !B | 0 | 0
!A B | 1 | 0
from which you infer that you need a group for first row and two groups for first column, obtaining the optimal solution of polygenelubricants:
(C && (A || B)) || (A && B) <---- first row
^
|
first column without third case