Data Modelling & AI Data Structure & Algorithm

Find the position of box which occupies the given ball

23 June 2025

0

Given two array A[] and B[]. Where size of A[] represent the number of rows and A[i] represent the number of boxes in the i^th row. Array B[] represents an array of balls where B[i] represents a number on the ball. Given that ball i (having value B[i]) will be placed in a box whose position from beginning is B[i] (row-major). The task is to find the row and column of the boxes corresponding to each B[i].
Examples:

Input: A[] = {2, 3, 4, 5}, B[] = {1, 4, 6, 3}
Output:
1, 1
2, 2
3, 1
2, 1
B[0] = 1, hence Box position will be 1st row, 1st column
B[1] = 4, hence Box position will be 2nd row, 2nd column
B[2] = 6, hence Box position will be 3rd row, 1st column
B[3] = 3, hence Box position will be 2nd row, 1st column
Input: A[] = {2, 2, 2, 2}, B[] = {1, 2, 3, 4}
Output:
1, 1
1, 2
2, 1
2, 2

Approach: As per problem statement, in 1st row A[0] number of boxes are placed similarly in 2nd row A[1] number of boxes are there. So, in case a ball is to be placed in any box of the second row, its value must be greater than A[0]. So, for finding the actual position of box where a ball B[i] is going to be placed first of all find the cumulative sum of array A[] and then find the position of element in cumulative sum array which is just greater than B[i], that will be the row number and for finding the box number in that particular row find the value of B[i] – value in cumulative array which is just smaller than B[i].
Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++

// C++ implementation of the approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to print the position of each boxes
// where a ball has to be placed
void printPosition(int A[], int B[], int sizeOfA, int sizeOfB)
{
 
    // Find the cumulative sum of array A[]
    for (int i = 1; i < sizeOfA; i++)
        A[i] += A[i - 1];
 
    // Find the position of box for each ball
    for (int i = 0; i < sizeOfB; i++) {
 
        // Row number
        int row = lower_bound(A, A + sizeOfA, B[i]) - A;
 
        // Column (position of box in particular row)
        int boxNumber = (row >= 1) ? B[i] - A[row - 1] : B[i];
 
        // Row + 1 denotes row if indexing of array start from 1
        cout << row + 1 << ", " << boxNumber << "\n";
    }
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
 
    int A[] = { 2, 2, 2, 2 };
    int B[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
    int sizeOfA = sizeof(A) / sizeof(A[0]);
    int sizeOfB = sizeof(B) / sizeof(B[0]);
    printPosition(A, B, sizeOfA, sizeOfB);
 
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java implementation of the approach
 
class GFG
{
 
    // Function to print the position of each boxes 
    // where a ball has to be placed 
    static void printPosition(int A[], int B[], 
                        int sizeOfA, int sizeOfB) 
    {
 
        // Find the cumulative sum of array A[] 
        for (int i = 1; i < sizeOfA; i++) 
        {
            A[i] += A[i - 1];
        }
 
        // Find the position of box for each ball 
        for (int i = 0; i < sizeOfB; i++)
        {
 
            // Row number 
            int row = lower_bound(A, 0, A.length, B[i]);
 
            // Column (position of box in particular row) 
            int boxNumber = (row >= 1) ? B[i] - A[row - 1] : B[i];
 
            // Row + 1 denotes row if indexing of array start from 1 
            System.out.print(row + 1 + ", " + boxNumber + "\n");
        }
    }
 
    private static int lower_bound(int[] a, int low, int high, int element)
    {
        while (low < high)
        {
            int middle = low + (high - low) / 2;
            if (element > a[middle])
            {
                low = middle + 1;
            }
            else
            {
                high = middle;
            }
        }
        return low;
    }
    // Driver code 
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int A[] = {2, 2, 2, 2};
        int B[] = {1, 2, 3, 4};
        int sizeOfA = A.length;
        int sizeOfB = B.length;
        printPosition(A, B, sizeOfA, sizeOfB);
 
    }
}
 
// This code has been contributed by 29AjayKumar

Python3

# Python3 implementation of the approach
import bisect
 
# Function to print the position of each boxes
# where a ball has to be placed
def printPosition(A, B, sizeOfA, sizeOfB):
 
    # Find the cumulative sum of array A[]
    for i in range(1, sizeOfA):
        A[i] += A[i - 1]
 
    # Find the position of box for each ball
    for i in range(sizeOfB):
 
        # Row number
        row = bisect.bisect_left(A, B[i])
 
        # Column (position of box in particular row)
        if row >= 1:
            boxNumber = B[i] - A[row - 1]
        else:
            boxNumber = B[i]
 
        # Row + 1 denotes row 
        # if indexing of array start from 1
        print(row + 1, ",", boxNumber)
 
# Driver code
A = [2, 2, 2, 2]
B = [1, 2, 3, 4]
sizeOfA = len(A)
sizeOfB = len(B)
printPosition(A, B, sizeOfA, sizeOfB)
 
# This code is contributed by Mohit Kumar

C#

// C# implementation of the approach
using System;
 
class GFG
{
    // Function to print the position of each boxes 
    // where a ball has to be placed 
    static void printPosition(int []A, int []B, 
                        int sizeOfA, int sizeOfB) 
    {
 
        // Find the cumulative sum of array A[] 
        for (int i = 1; i < sizeOfA; i++) 
        {
            A[i] += A[i - 1];
        }
 
        // Find the position of box for each ball 
        for (int i = 0; i < sizeOfB; i++)
        {
 
            // Row number 
            int row = lower_bound(A, 0, A.Length, B[i]);
 
            // Column (position of box in particular row) 
            int boxNumber = (row >= 1) ? B[i] - A[row - 1] : B[i];
 
            // Row + 1 denotes row if indexing of array start from 1 
            Console.WriteLine(row + 1 + ", " + boxNumber + "\n");
        }
    }
 
    private static int lower_bound(int[] a, int low,
                                    int high, int element)
    {
        while (low < high)
        {
            int middle = low + (high - low) / 2;
            if (element > a[middle])
            {
                low = middle + 1;
            }
            else
            {
                high = middle;
            }
        }
        return low;
    }
     
    // Driver code 
    static public void Main ()
    {
        int []A = {2, 2, 2, 2};
        int []B = {1, 2, 3, 4};
        int sizeOfA = A.Length;
        int sizeOfB = B.Length;
        printPosition(A, B, sizeOfA, sizeOfB);
 
    }
}
 
// This code has been contributed by Tushil.

PHP

<?php
 
// function to find the lower bound
function lower_bound($A, $valueTosearch)
{
    $row = 0;
    foreach ($A as $key=>$value)
    {
        if($valueTosearch <= $value)
            return $row;
        $row++;
    }
    return $row+1;
}
 
// Function to print the position of each boxes 
// where a ball has to be placed 
function printPosition($A, $B, $sizeOfA, $sizeOfB) 
{ 
 
    // Find the cumulative sum of array A[] 
    for ($i = 1; $i <$sizeOfA; $i++) 
        $A[$i] += $A[$i - 1]; 
 
    // Find the position of box for each ball 
    for ($i = 0; $i < $sizeOfB; $i++)
    { 
 
        // Row number 
        $row = lower_bound($A, $B[$i]) ;
 
        // Column (position of box in particular row) 
        $boxNumber = ($row >= 1) ? $B[$i] - $A[$row - 1] : $B[$i]; 
 
        // Row + 1 denotes row if indexing of array start from 1 
        print_r($row+1 .", ".$boxNumber); 
        echo "\n";
    } 
} 
 
    // Driver code
    $A = array(2, 2, 2, 2 ); 
    $B = array( 1, 2, 3, 4 ); 
    $sizeOfA =count($A); 
    $sizeOfB = count($B); 
    printPosition($A, $B, $sizeOfA, $sizeOfB); 
     
    // This code is contributed by Shivam.Pradhan
?>

Javascript

<script>
// javascript implementation of the approach
    // Function to print the position of each boxes
    // where a ball has to be placed
    function printPosition(A , B , sizeOfA , sizeOfB) {
 
        // Find the cumulative sum of array A
        for (i = 1; i < sizeOfA; i++) {
            A[i] += A[i - 1];
        }
 
        // Find the position of box for each ball
        for (i = 0; i < sizeOfB; i++) {
 
            // Row number
            var row = lower_bound(A, 0, A.length, B[i]);
 
            // Column (position of box in particular row)
            var boxNumber = (row >= 1) ? B[i] - A[row - 1] : B[i];
 
            // Row + 1 denotes row if indexing of array start from 1
            document.write(row + 1 + ", " + boxNumber + "<br/>");
        }
    }
 
     function lower_bound(a , low , high , element) {
        while (low < high) {
            var middle = low + (high - low) / 2;
            if (element > a[middle]) {
                low = middle + 1;
            } else {
                high = middle;
            }
        }
        return low;
    }
 
    // Driver code
     
        var A = [ 2, 2, 2, 2 ];
        var B = [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ];
        var sizeOfA = A.length;
        var sizeOfB = B.length;
        printPosition(A, B, sizeOfA, sizeOfB);
 
 
// This code contributed by gauravrajput1 
</script>

Output:

1, 1
1, 2
2, 1
2, 2

Time Complexity: O(sizeOfA + sizeOfB)

Auxiliary Space: O(1)

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Find the position of box which occupies the given ball

C++

Java

Python3

C#

PHP

Javascript

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