How Many Apples Can You Put into the Basket - Problem

You have some apples and a basket that can carry up to 5000 units of weight.

Given an integer array weight where weight[i] is the weight of the i-th apple, return the maximum number of apples you can put in the basket.

Input & Output

Example 1 — Basic Case

$ Input: weight = [100,200,150,500]

› Output: 4

💡 Note: All apples can fit: 100 + 200 + 150 + 500 = 950 ≤ 5000, so we can take all 4 apples

Example 2 — Weight Limit Exceeded

$ Input: weight = [900,950,800,1000,700,800]

› Output: 5

💡 Note: After sorting: [700,800,800,900,950,1000]. We can take 700+800+800+900+950=4150 ≤ 5000, but adding 1000 would exceed limit

Example 3 — Single Heavy Apple

$ Input: weight = [5001]

› Output: 0

💡 Note: The single apple weighs 5001 > 5000, so we cannot take any apples

Constraints

1 ≤ weight.length ≤ 10³
1 ≤ weight[i] ≤ 10⁴

Visualization

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Asked in

a Amazon 35 G Google 28 M Microsoft 22 Apple 18

The key insight is to use a greedy approach: sort apples by weight and pick the lightest ones first. This maximizes the count since lighter apples leave more room for additional apples. Best approach is greedy sorting. Time: O(n log n), Space: O(1)

Common Approaches

✓ Brute Force - Try All Combinations

⏱️ Time: O(2^n) Space: O(n)

Try every possible subset of apples and check if total weight ≤ 5000. Keep track of the maximum count found.

Greedy - Sort and Pick Lightest

⏱️ Time: O(n log n) Space: O(1)

Sort the array in ascending order, then keep adding apples starting from the lightest until adding another would exceed the 5000 weight limit.

Brute Force - Try All Combinations — Algorithm Steps

Generate all 2^n possible combinations of apples
For each combination, calculate total weight
If weight ≤ 5000, update maximum count

Visualization

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Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Generate Subsets

Create all 2^n possible combinations

Check Weight

Sum weights for each combination

Track Maximum

Keep maximum valid count

Code -

solution.c — C

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int backtrack(int* weight, int size, int index, int currentWeight, int count) {
    if (index == size) {
        return currentWeight <= 5000 ? count : 0;
    }
    
    // Don't take current apple
    int maxCount = backtrack(weight, size, index + 1, currentWeight, count);
    
    // Take current apple if possible
    if (currentWeight + weight[index] <= 5000) {
        int taken = backtrack(weight, size, index + 1, currentWeight + weight[index], count + 1);
        if (taken > maxCount) maxCount = taken;
    }
    
    return maxCount;
}

int solution(int* weight, int size) {
    return backtrack(weight, size, 0, 0, 0);
}

int main() {
    char line[10000];
    fgets(line, sizeof(line), stdin);
    
    int weight[1000];
    int size = 0;
    char* token = strtok(line + 1, ",]");
    while (token) {
        weight[size++] = atoi(token);
        token = strtok(NULL, ",]");
    }
    
    printf("%d\n", solution(weight, size));
    return 0;
}

Time & Space Complexity

Time Complexity

⏱️

O(2^n)

Generate 2^n subsets, each taking O(n) time to sum weights

⚠ Quadratic Growth

Space Complexity

O(n)

Recursion stack depth or space to store current combination

⚡ Linearithmic Space

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How Many Apples Can You Put into the Basket - Problem

Input & Output

Constraints

Visualization

Related Problems

Common Approaches

Brute Force - Try All Combinations — Algorithm Steps

Visualization

Code -

Time & Space Complexity

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