elements-removal.md

Elements Removal

Problem Description

Given an integer array A of size N. You can remove any element from the array in one operation. The cost of this operation is the sum of all elements in the array present before this operation.

Find the minimum cost to remove all elements from the array.

Problem Constraints

0 <= N <= 1000
1 <= A[i] <= 10^3

Input Format

First and only argument is an integer array A.

Output Format

Return an integer denoting the total cost of removing all elements from the array.

Example Input

Input 1:
A = [2, 1]

Input 2:
A = [5]

Example Output

Output 1:
4

Output 2:
5

Example Explanation

Explanation 1:
Given array A = [2, 1]
Remove 2 from the array => [1]. Cost of this operation is (2 + 1) = 3.
Remove 1 from the array => []. Cost of this operation is (1) = 1.
So, total cost is = 3 + 1 = 4.

Explanation 2:
There is only one element in the array. So, cost of removing is 5.

Output

function minRemovalCost(A) {
    // Sort the array in descending order
    A.sort((a, b) => b - a);

    let totalCost = 0;
    let currentSum = A.reduce((acc, val) => acc + val, 0);

    // Iterate through the sorted array
    for (let i = 0; i < A.length; i++) {
        totalCost += currentSum;
        currentSum -= A[i]; // Remove the current element's value from the sum
    }

    return totalCost;
}

// Example usage
console.log(minRemovalCost([2, 1])); // Output: 4
console.log(minRemovalCost([5]));    // Output: 5