#C6669. Smallest Sum Combination
Smallest Sum Combination
Smallest Sum Combination
You are given an array of positive integers. Your task is to repeatedly perform the following operation until only one element remains:
Find the two smallest elements in the array, sum them, remove them from the array, and insert their sum back into the array.
Formally, if the array is \(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n\) (with \(n \ge 2\)) and sorted in non-decreasing order, then at each iteration, compute \(s = a_1 + a_2\) and update the array by removing \(a_1\) and \(a_2\) and appending \(s\). This process is repeated until only one element remains. Output this final element, which is the smallest possible sum obtainable via this process.
Example: For the array [4, 1, 3], the process is as follows:
- Sort: [1, 3, 4]
- Combine 1 and 3: 1 + 3 = 4, array becomes [4, 4]
- Combine 4 and 4: 4 + 4 = 8, array becomes [8]
The final output is 8.
inputFormat
The input begins with an integer T
denoting the number of test cases. For each test case, the first line contains an integer N
representing the number of elements in the array. The following line contains N
positive integers separated by spaces.
Example:
2 3 4 1 3 4 1 2 3 4
outputFormat
For each test case, output a single line containing the smallest possible sum obtained by repeatedly combining the two smallest numbers in the array.
Example:
8 10## sample
1
3
4 1 3
8
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