🧮 LeetCode 3396 - Minimum Number of Operations to Make Elements in Array Distinct

This repository contains the Python solution for the LeetCode problem [3396. Minimum Number of Operations to Make Elements in Array Distinct ] by Coding Moves(https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-number-of-operations-to-make-elements-in-array-distinct/).

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💡 Problem Description

You are given an integer array nums. You need to ensure that all elements in the array are distinct.

To do this, you may perform the following operation any number of times:

• Remove the first 3 elements from the array.
• If the array has fewer than 3 elements, remove all remaining elements.

An empty array is also considered to have distinct elements.

🧠 Objective

Return the minimum number of operations needed to make all elements in the array distinct.

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🔍 Examples

Example 1

Input: nums = [1,2,3,4,2,3,3,5,7]

Output: 2

Explanation:

• After removing the first 3 → [4,2,3,3,5,7]

• After removing the next 3 → [3,5,7] → All elements are distinct.

Example 2

Input: nums = [4,5,6,4,4]

Output: 2

Explanation:

• After removing first 3 → [4,4]

• After removing all remaining → [] → Empty array is distinct.

Example 2

Input: nums = [6,7,8,9]

Output: 0

Explanation:

• All elements are already distinct.

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🧠 Approach

• Use a while loop to check if the array has duplicates.
• If duplicates exist, remove the first 3 elements and count the operation.
• Repeat until all elements are distinct (or array is empty).

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🐍 Python Solution

class Solution:
    def minimumOperations(self, nums):
        operations = 0

        while len(nums) != len(set(nums)):
            nums = nums[3:]  # Remove first 3 elements
            operations += 1

        return operations

✅ Constraints

• 1 <= nums.length <= 100

• 1 <= nums[i] <= 100