Find all M-length sets of positive integers that sum to N - algorithm

Question

The problem I'm trying to solve is how do we find all the integer sets [a1, a2, ... ,am] so that
a1 + a2 + ... + am = N
and with the constraint ai >= 1
For example if M = 4, and N = 7 there are three answers
[1,1,1,4]
[1,1,2,3]
[1,2,2,2]

Answer 1

Since you have to print all the sets that sum to N. You can employ a complete search algorithm using recursion. In the following code, M is the number of numbers in the set and N is the sum required.
int M;
int N;
void run(){
M = 4;
N = 7;
int[] arr = new int[M];
print(arr, 0, N, 1);
}
// req holds the required sum for the numbers in the array from arr[from]
// to arr[M-1].
// "last" holds the last value that we had put in the array.
// The first call to the array will be with last=1.
void print(int[] arr, int from, int req, int last){
// Reached the end of the array and sum required 0.
if(from==M && req==0){
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(arr));
return;
}
// Either reached the end of the array but sum is not equal to N
// Or if we have not reached the end of the array but sum has already
// become more than or equal to N.
if(from==M || req<=0){
return;
}
for(int i=last; i<=req; i++){
arr[from] = i;
print(arr, from+1, req-i, i);
}
}
Output for M=4 and N=7:
[1, 1, 1, 4]
[1, 1, 2, 3]
[1, 2, 2, 2]
Output for M=3 and N=10:
[1, 1, 8]
[1, 2, 7]
[1, 3, 6]
[1, 4, 5]
[2, 2, 6]
[2, 3, 5]
[2, 4, 4]
[3, 3, 4]

Answer 2

Answer for the problem in the link, just got accepted.
The idea is simple, assume that we know the maximum value for each section is X, and we want to find a way to divide these cabinets to achieve that , we can greedily divide them as follow:
Starting from first cabinet, iterating through each cabinet, until the total from first to ith cabinet is greater than X. So this is the first section, similarly, we can select other sections. This greedy will always find a solution (if exists).
Finally, we can using binary search to adjust the value of X, decrease X if we can find a way to divide the cabinets, or increase X if we cannot find one.
Here is the code in Java:
public class FairWorkload {
public int getMostWork(int[] folders, int workers) {
int[] data = new int[folders.length];
data[0] = folders[0];
for (int i = 1; i < data.length; i++) {
data[i] = data[i - 1] + folders[i];
}
if (workers == 1) {
return data[data.length - 1];
}
int start = 0;
int end = data[data.length - 1];
int result = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
while (start <= end) {
int mid = (start + end) / 2;
int index = 0;
for (int k = 0; k < workers && index < data.length; k++) {
int less = index > 0 ? data[index - 1] : 0;
int temp = index;
for (int i = index; i < data.length; i++) {
if (data[i] - less <= mid) {
temp = i;
} else {
break;
}
}
// System.out.println(data[temp] - less + " " + mid);
if(data[temp] - less > mid){
index = -1;
break;
}
index = temp + 1;
}
//System.out.println(mid + " " + index);
if (index != data.length) {
start = mid + 1;
} else {
result = Math.min(result, mid);
end = mid - 1;
}
}
return result;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] data = {1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1000};
System.out.println(new FairWorkload().getMostWork(data, 2));
}
}

Answer 3

One possible solution uses a counting technique, finding the rightmost term that satisfies [i] <= [length-1] - 2, and then flattening out all other terms to the right as much as possible, keeping a[i] <= a[i+1].
import java.util.Arrays;
public class test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
test t = new test();
t.go();
}
private void go() {
int w = 3;
int sum = 10;
int[] terms = new int[w];
for (int i = 0; i < terms.length; i++) {
terms[i] = 1;
}
terms[w-1] = sum - w + 1;
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(terms));
for (int i = right_index(terms); i>=0; i = right_index(terms)) {
terms[i]++;
int a = terms[i];
int overflow = -1;
// balance all the terms to the right
for (int j = i+1; j < terms.length-1; j++) {
overflow += terms[j] - a;
terms[j] = a;
}
terms[terms.length-1] += overflow;
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(terms));
}
}
// find the rightmost index i, where [i] <= [ia.length-1] - 2
private int right_index(int[] ia) {
int max = ia[ia.length-1];
for (int i = ia.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
if (ia[i] <= max - 2)
return i;
}
return -1;
}
}