CODEWITHSUNDEEP
algorithmsorting
Phate01
Phate01

Reputation: 1795

Sorting by price/quality ratio

I have this trivial problem I can't solve.

I have a list of names with a value (let's say strenght) and a price. I want to understand which is the most convenient depending on the price, a sort of price/quality ratio.

Example

NAME   STRENGTH  PRICE
BOB    48        17
CHRIS  51        17
MARK   49        15

I want to sort this data on the price/quality ratio

Upvotes: 0

Views: 539

Answers (2)

mtszkw
mtszkw

Reputation: 2783

Let's assume your value (quality) is strength that each player has. It also has its price.
If you want to find out which player is the most valuable, you shall divide strength/price, because in result you'll get how many strength-units you can have for 1 price-unit. The more strength-units for 1 price-unit - the better player is, obviously.

Let's take a look at the data set below (sorted by STR/PRI ratio descending):

NAME   STRENGTH  PRICE  STR/PRI
JOHN   99        15      6,600
MARK   49        15      3,267
CHRIS  51        17      3,000
BOB    48        17      2,823
TOM    5         17      0,294

99 strength and only 15 price? Great, right? His ratio is 6,600.
Wait... 5 strength and 17 price? I wouldn't buy this one, and you? And look - his ratio is only 0,294.

Conclusion? The best player has the highest STR/PRI ratio.
Now if we add PRI/STR column to the table above (sorted from the best to the worst as above):

NAME   STRENGTH  PRICE  STR/PRI     PRI/STR
JOHN   99        15      6,600       0,151
MARK   49        15      3,267       0,306
CHRIS  51        17      3,000       0,333
BOB    48        17      2,823       0,354
TOM    5         17      0,294       3,400

You can easily notice that the best player (John) has the lowest PRI/STR ratio.

Upvotes: 1

duffymo
duffymo

Reputation: 308763

We've clarified that you mean price/strength ratio.

Here's your original data set:

INDEX      NAME   STRENGTH  PRICE RATIO
1          BOB    48        17    0.354167
2          CHRIS  51        17    0.333333
3          MARK   49        15    0.306122

If I sort these by RATIO in ascending order, the indexes are (3, 2, 1). I can tell what order NAME, STRENGTH, and PRICE need to be in by using those indexes.

Use any sorting algorithm you wish on the RATIO array and get the indexes back. Use these to refer to the original data in the order of ascending RATIO.

Upvotes: 0

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