1866. Number of Ways to Rearrange Sticks With K Sticks Visible

Problem Link

Description

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There are n uniquely-sized sticks whose lengths are integers from 1 to n. You want to arrange the sticks such that exactly k sticks are visible from the left. A stick is visible from the left if there are no longer sticks to the left of it.

• For example, if the sticks are arranged [1,3,2,5,4], then the sticks with lengths 1, 3, and 5 are visible from the left.

Given n and k, return the number of such arrangements. Since the answer may be large, return it modulo 109 + 7.

 

Example 1:

Input: n = 3, k = 2
Output: 3
Explanation: [1,3,2], [2,3,1], and [2,1,3] are the only arrangements such that exactly 2 sticks are visible.
The visible sticks are underlined.

Example 2:

Input: n = 5, k = 5
Output: 1
Explanation: [1,2,3,4,5] is the only arrangement such that all 5 sticks are visible.
The visible sticks are underlined.

Example 3:

Input: n = 20, k = 11
Output: 647427950
Explanation: There are 647427950 (mod 109 + 7) ways to rearrange the sticks such that exactly 11 sticks are visible.

 

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 1000
• 1 <= k <= n

Solution

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Python3

class Solution:
    @cache
    def rearrangeSticks(self, n: int, k: int, M = 10 ** 9 + 7) -> int:
        if n == k: return 1
        if k == 0: return 0
        
        return (self.rearrangeSticks(n - 1, k - 1) + self.rearrangeSticks(n - 1, k) * (n - 1)) % M