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Farmer John's Favorite Operation

USACO · 2025 · January · silver-2

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binary-search · prefix-sums · sorting

The organizer’s problem statement is available at the official source link.

sample trace

Farmer John's Favorite Operation: binary search walkthrough

Farmer John's Favorite Operation: use the linked editorial?s binary search, prefix sums idea on the published sample, then verify the displayed output.

Published input2 5 9 15 12 18 3 8 3 69 1 988244353 998244853modelAlgorithm ideaSearch a monotone boundary by repeatedly testing a midpoint with the editorial?s feasibility condition.task resultExpected output10 21
  1. 1

    Range

    Set the candidate interval for the quantity the task asks to minimize or maximize.
  2. 2

    Test

    Evaluate the task?s feasibility condition at the midpoint.
  3. 3

    Narrow

    Keep the half containing the true boundary until the answer is determined.
  4. 4

    Verify the sample

    Use the published sample output to check the result of this idea on the displayed input.
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