CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonarrays
Денис Милованов
Денис Милованов

Reputation: 103

Sorting list in Python (another way)

So here is the problem:

Input an array of positive integers and need to return sum of all elements in new array with conditions: if Array[i] > Array[j] then Array[i] = Array[i] - Array[j]. Example:

[1,2,3] => [1,2,1] => [1,1,1] => output: 3

My code:

def solution(a):
    while max(a) != min(a):
        u = max(a)
        a[a.index(u)] = u - min(a) 
    return (a[0] * len(a))

But this code is very slow, how can I refactor it for better performance ?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 76

Answers (1)

Jared Goguen
Jared Goguen

Reputation: 9010

The code you implemented roughly applies the Euclidean algorithm to a group of numbers. The following code is equivalent to yours, but more efficient:

from fractions import gcd

a = [1, 2, 3]
print reduce(gcd, a) * len(a) # 3

Whether or not your code does what you want it to do is another story. In Python 3.X, reduce will have to be imported from functools.

Upvotes: 2

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