Problem 534. Find best domino orientation

Created by Doug Hull

Solve Later

Given a list of pairs, find the orientation they should be placed in a line, such that the sum of the absolute values of the differences is zero.

Zero means do not invert, One means invert in the order vector.

list = [1 2
        4 2
        2 3

order = [0 1 1]

yields: [1 2][2 4][3 2]
    or: abs(2-2) + abs(4-3)
    or:        0 + 1
    or: 1

There is a unique solution to this problem where the final score is minimized.

Solve

Solution Stats

902 Solutions
262 Solvers

Last Solution submitted on May 06, 2025

Last 200 Solutions

Problem Comments

5 Comments

5 Comments

Show 2 older comments

Jean-Marie Sainthillier on 6 Aug 2012

No unique solution. For me it is the last solution of the permutation matrix.

Doug Hull on 7 Aug 2012

For which test statement is there not a unique solution? We need to fix the test suite if there are two answers of same score.

Jean-Marie Sainthillier on 7 Aug 2012

Sorry, it was a mistake.

Andrew Newell on 9 Jan 2015

The statement of the problem is incorrect: "the sum of the absolute values of the differences is zero." You want the smallest sum, but it isn't necessarily zero.

Raihan Ahmed on 6 Jan 2016

Is there any size constraint on this problem ? My solution is not getting accepted ...

Solution Comments

Show comments

Problem Recent Solvers262

Problem Tags

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!

Problem 534. Find best domino orientation

Solution Stats

Last 200 Solutions

Problem Comments

Solution Comments

Problem Recent Solvers262

Suggested Problems

More from this Author51

Problem Tags

Community Treasure Hunt

Problem 534. Find best domino orientation

Solution Stats

Last 200 Solutions

Problem Comments

Solution Comments

Problem Recent Solvers262

Suggested Problems

More from this Author51

Problem Tags

Community Treasure Hunt

Players