#P6530. Bookstore Promotion
Bookstore Promotion
Bookstore Promotion
The bookstore is having a promotion! In this discount event, if you purchase exactly 3 books in one go, you only pay for the two more expensive ones, i.e. you get the cheapest book for free. Note that if you purchase only 1 or 2 books at a time, no discount applies.
You are given n
books with their prices. You can buy the books in one or more transactions, and if a transaction has exactly 3 books, the discount is applied. Your goal is to purchase all n
books while spending the minimum amount of money.
Hint: Sorting the prices in descending order and grouping every three books together will help you decide which book becomes free.
Formula (if you need it): If the sorted prices (in descending order) are p0, p1, p2, ...
, then the minimum total cost is:
\[ \text{total cost} = \sum_{i=0}^{n-1} p_i - \sum_{j=2,5,8,...} p_j \]
inputFormat
The input is given in two lines:
- The first line contains an integer
n
(the number of books). - The second line contains
n
space-separated positive integers representing the prices of the books.
outputFormat
Output the minimum amount of money required to purchase all n
books.
sample
3
6 5 3
11