Summing elements of a set of numbers to a given number - algorithm

Question

I have been battling to put up an algorithm to solve this problem.
Let say i have a set of number {1, 2, 5} and each element of the this set as unlimited supply, and i given another number 6, then ask to determine the number of ways you can sum the elements to get the number 6. For illustration purpose i do this
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6
1 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 6
2 + 2 + 2 = 6
1 + 5 = 6
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 6
So in this case the program will output 5 as the number of ways. Again let say you are to find the sum for 4,
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4
2 + 2 = 4
1 + 1 + 2 = 4
In this case the algorithm will output 3 as the number of way

Answer 1

This is similar to sum of subsets problem . I am sure you have to use branch and bound method or backtracking method.
1)Create a state space tree which consist of all possible cases.
0
/ | \
1 2 5
/ | \
1 2 5 ........
2) Continue the process until the sum of nodes in depth first manner is greater or equal to your desired number.
3) Count the no. of full branches that satisfy your condition.
The python implementation of similar problem can be found here.

Answer 2

This is a good problem to use recursion and dynamic programming techniques. Here is an implementation in Python using the top-down approach (memoization) to avoid doing the same calculation multiple times:
# Remember answers for subsets
cache = {}
# Return the ways to get the desired sum from combinations of the given numbers
def possible_sums(numbers, desired_sum):
# See if we have already calculated this possibility
key = (tuple(set(numbers)), desired_sum)
if key in cache:
return cache[key]
answers = {}
for n in numbers:
if desired_sum % n == 0:
# The sum is a multiple of the number
answers[tuple([n] * (desired_sum / n))] = True
if n < desired_sum:
for a in possible_sums(numbers, desired_sum - n):
answers[tuple([n] + a)] = True
cache[key] = [list(k) for k in answers.iterkeys()]
return cache[key]
# Return only distinct combinations of sums, ignoring order
def unique_possible_sums(numbers, desired_sum):
answers = {}
for s in possible_sums(numbers, desired_sum):
answers[tuple(sorted(s))] = True
return [list(k) for k in answers.iterkeys()]
for s in unique_possible_sums([1, 2, 5], 6):
print '6: ' + repr(s)
for s in unique_possible_sums([1, 2, 5], 4):
print '4: ' + repr(s)

Answer 3

For smaller target number(~1000000) and 1000{supply} n try this:
The supply of numbers you have
supply {a,b,c....}
The target you need
steps[n]
1 way to get to 0 use nothing
steps[0]=1
Scan till target number
for i from 1 to n:
for each supply x:
if i - x >=0
steps[i] += steps[i-x]
Steps at n will contain the number of ways
steps[n]
Visualization of the above:
supply {1, 2, 5} , target 6
i = 1, x=1 and steps required is 1
i = 2, x=1 and steps required is 1
i = 2, x=2 and steps required is 2
i = 3, x=1 and steps required is 2
i = 3, x=2 and steps required is 3
i = 4, x=1 and steps required is 3
i = 4, x=2 and steps required is 5
i = 5, x=1 and steps required is 5
i = 5, x=2 and steps required is 8
i = 5, x=5 and steps required is 9
i = 6, x=1 and steps required is 9
i = 6, x=2 and steps required is 14
i = 6, x=5 and steps required is 15
Some Java Code
private int test(int targetSize, int supply[]){
int target[] = new int[targetSize+1];
target[0]=1;
for(int i=0;i<=targetSize;i++){
for(int x:supply){
if(i-x >= 0){
target[i]+=target[i-x];
}
}
}
return target[targetSize];
}
#Test
public void test(){
System.err.println(test(12, new int[]{1,2,3,4,5,6}));
}