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?
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], Here's a test-driven, general approach. Not as "efficient" as most of the solutions so far offered, but clear, tested, working, and generalized.
public class CountBooleansTest extends TestCase {
public void testThreeFalse() throws Exception {
assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, false, false));
}
public void testThreeTrue() throws Exception {
assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, true, true));
}
public void testOnes() throws Exception {
assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, false, false));
assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, true, false));
assertFalse(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, false, true));
}
public void testTwos() throws Exception {
assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(false, true, true));
assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, false, true));
assertTrue(atLeastTwoOutOfThree(true, true, false));
}
private static boolean atLeastTwoOutOfThree(boolean b, boolean c, boolean d) {
return countBooleans(b, c, d) >= 2;
}
private static int countBooleans(boolean... bs) {
int count = 0;
for (boolean b : bs)
if (b)
count++;
return count;
}
}
A literal interpretation will work in all major languages:
return (a ? 1:0) + (b ? 1:0) + (c ? 1:0) >= 2;
But I would probably make it easier for people to read, and expandable to more than three - something that seems to be forgotten by many programmers:
boolean testBooleans(Array bools)
{
int minTrue = ceil(bools.length * .5);
int trueCount = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < bools.length; i++)
{
if(bools[i])
{
trueCount++;
}
}
return trueCount >= minTrue;
}
In Ruby:
[a, b, c].count { |x| x } >= 2
Which could be run in JRuby on the JavaVM. ;-)
Definitely a question that's more about how you solve problems/think than your actual coding ability.
A slightly terser version could be
return ((a ^ b) && (b ^ c)) ^ b
But like a previous poster said, if I saw this in any code I was working on, someone would be getting an earful. :)
One thing I haven't seen others point out is that a standard thing to do in the "please write me some code" section of the job interview is to say "Could you improve that?" or "Are you completely happy with that" or "is that as optimized as possible?" when you say you are done. It's possible you heard "how would you improve that" as "this might be improved; how?". In this case changing the if(x) return true; else return false; idiom to just return x is an improvement - but be aware that there are times they just want to see how you react to the question. I have heard that some interviewers will insist there is a flaw in perfect code just to see how you cope with it.
int count = 0;
boolean atLeastTwo(boolean a, boolean b, boolean c) {
if (a)
count++;
if (b)
count++;
if (c)
count++;
return count > 1;
}
Let the three boolean values be A, B and C.
You can use a k-MAP and come with a boolean expression.
In this case boolean expression will be A(B+C) + C
return (A && (B || C )) || C;