Maximizing the sum of subsequence of size at most M Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025 Comments Improve Suggest changes Like Article Like Report Given array A[] of size N, integer M and integer K. The task is to choose at most M elements from the array A[] to form a new array such that if the previous element was chosen is at index i that is A[i] and the current element at index j that is A[j] append A[j] - K * (j - i) to new array. Find the maximum possible sum of elements of the new array. Note: If no element is chosen before then value of i will be 0 that is A[j] - K * j and it is 1-based indexing. Examples: Input: A[] = {3, 2, 5, 4, 6}, M = 2, K = 2Output: 2Explanation: It will be optimal to include first and third element of A[] for new array. initially newArray = {} is empty. picking first element for new array, previously no element was picked so i = 0 and j = 1 (since we are picking first element) appending A[j] - K * (j - i) = 3 - 2 * (1 - 0) = 1 in new array it becomes newArray = {1}picking third element for new array previously we picked element at index i = 1 now we are picking element at index j = 3 so appending A[j] - K * (j - i) = 5 - 2 * (3 - 1) = 5 - 4 = 1 in new array it becomes newArray = {1, 1}So the sum of newArray will be 2.Input: A[] = {1, 1, 1, 1}, M = 3, K = 2Output: 0Explanation: It will be optimal not to pick any element in this case so sum is zero. Approach: To solve the problem follow the below idea: If we include elements i1, i2 ,…, ik from the array A[] the sum will be: (A[i1] − K * i1) + (A[i2] − K * (i2 − i1)) + … + (A[ik] − K * (ik−ik - 1)) = (A[i1] + A[i2] +…+ A[ik]) − K * ik, by maintaining sum of top M non negative elements using priority queue this problem can be solved. Below are the steps for the above approach: Declare priority queue named ms for tracking first M maximum elements from array.Declare currentSum = 0 and ans = 0 for tracking current sum during iterating and final answer of the problem.Iterate over N elementsif A[i] is negative skip the iteration.insert A[i] in priority queueadd A[i] in currentSumif size of priority queue is greater than M than delete smallest element from priority queue and subtract that element from currentSumUpdate the answer in ans variablereturn final answer ans.Below is the implementation of the above approach: C++ // C++ code to implement the approach #include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std; #define int long long // Function to maximize the sum of subsequence // of size at most M int maximizeSum(int A[], int N, int M, int K) { // Declaring priority queue for tracking // sum of at most M elements of array multiset<int> ms; // Declaring currentSum variable for tracking // sum and ans variable for tracking // final answer int currentSum = 0, ans = 0; // Iterating over array for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) { // Skip the iteration if number // is negative if (A[i] < 0) continue; // Inserting element in priority queue ms.insert(A[i]); // Adding A[i] in current sum currentSum = currentSum + A[i]; // If size of priority queue exceeds // M delete smallest element if (ms.size() > M) { // Subtracting smallest element // from current sum currentSum = currentSum - *ms.begin(); // Erasing smallest element from // priority queue ms.erase(ms.begin()); } // Updating the answer ans = max(ans, currentSum - (i + 1) * K); } // Returning the final answer return ans; } // Driver Code int32_t main() { // Input 1 int M = 2, K = 2; int A[] = { 3, 2, 5, 4, 6 }, N = 5; // Function Call cout << maximizeSum(A, N, M, K) << endl; // Input 2 int M1 = 3, K1 = 2; int A1[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }, N1 = 4; // Function Call cout << maximizeSum(A1, N1, M1, K1) << endl; return 0; } Java import java.util.PriorityQueue; public class Main { public static long maximizeSum(int[] A, int N, int M, int K) { // Declaring priority queue for tracking // sum of at most M elements of array PriorityQueue<Integer> pq = new PriorityQueue<>(); // Declaring currentSum variable for tracking // sum and ans variable for tracking // final answer long currentSum = 0, ans = 0; // Iterating over the array for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) { // Skip the iteration if the number is negative if (A[i] < 0) continue; // Inserting the element in the priority queue pq.offer(A[i]); // Adding A[i] to the current sum currentSum += A[i]; // If the size of the priority queue exceeds M, remove the smallest element if (pq.size() > M) { // Subtracting the smallest element from the current sum currentSum -= pq.poll(); } // Updating the answer ans = Math.max(ans, currentSum - (i + 1) * K); } // Returning the final answer return ans; } public static void main(String[] args) { // Input 1 int M = 2, K = 2; int[] A = {3, 2, 5, 4, 6}; int N = 5; // Function Call System.out.println(maximizeSum(A, N, M, K)); // Input 2 int M1 = 3, K1 = 2; int[] A1 = {1, 1, 1, 1}; int N1 = 4; // Function Call System.out.println(maximizeSum(A1, N1, M1, K1)); } } //Contributed by Aditi Tyagi Python3 import heapq def maximize_sum(A, N, M, K): # Declaring priority queue for tracking # sum of at most M elements of array pq = [] # Declaring currentSum variable for tracking # sum and ans variable for tracking # final answer current_sum = 0 ans = 0 # Iterating over the array for i in range(N): # Skip the iteration if the number is negative if A[i] < 0: continue # Inserting the element in the priority queue heapq.heappush(pq, A[i]) # Adding A[i] to the current sum current_sum += A[i] # If the size of the priority queue exceeds M, remove the smallest element if len(pq) > M: # Subtracting the smallest element from the current sum current_sum -= heapq.heappop(pq) # Updating the answer ans = max(ans, current_sum - (i + 1) * K) # Returning the final answer return ans # Input 1 M = 2 K = 2 A = [3, 2, 5, 4, 6] N = 5 # Function Call print(maximize_sum(A, N, M, K)) # Input 2 M1 = 3 K1 = 2 A1 = [1, 1, 1, 1] N1 = 4 # Function Call print(maximize_sum(A1, N1, M1, K1)) #This code is contributed by rohit singh C# using System; using System.Collections.Generic; public class Program { // Function to maximize the sum of subsequence // of size at most M public static int MaximizeSum(int[] A, int N, int M, int K) { SortedSet<int> ss = new SortedSet<int>(); // Declaring currentSum variable for tracking // sum and ans variable for tracking // final answer int currentSum = 0, ans = 0; // Iterating over array for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) { // Skip the iteration if number // is negative if (A[i] < 0) continue; // Inserting element in priority queue ss.Add(A[i]); // Adding A[i] in current sum currentSum += A[i]; // If size of priority queue exceeds // M delete smallest element if (ss.Count > M) { // Subtracting smallest element // from current sum currentSum -= ss.Min; // Erasing smallest element from // priority queue ss.Remove(ss.Min); } // Updating the answer ans = Math.Max(ans, currentSum - (i + 1) * K); } // Returning the final answer return ans; } // Driver Code public static void Main(string[] args) { // Input 1 int M = 2, K = 2; int[] A = { 3, 2, 5, 4, 6 }; int N = 5; Console.WriteLine(MaximizeSum(A, N, M, K)); // Input 2 int M1 = 3, K1 = 2; int[] A1 = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }; int N1 = 4; Console.WriteLine(MaximizeSum(A1, N1, M1, K1)); } } JavaScript // Function to maximize the sum of subsequence // of size at most M function maximizeSum(A, N, M, K) { // Declaring priority queue for tracking // sum of at most M elements of array let ms = new Set(); // Declaring currentSum variable for tracking // sum and ans variable for tracking // final answer let currentSum = 0; let ans = 0; // Iterating over array for (let i = 0; i < N; i++) { // Skip the iteration if number // is negative if (A[i] < 0) continue; // Inserting element in priority queue ms.add(A[i]); // Adding A[i] in current sum currentSum = currentSum + A[i]; // If size of priority queue exceeds // M delete smallest element if (ms.size > M) { // Subtracting smallest element // from current sum currentSum = currentSum - Math.min(...ms); // Erasing smallest element from // priority queue ms.delete(Math.min(...ms)); } // Updating the answer ans = Math.max(ans, currentSum - (i + 1) * K); } // Returning the final answer return ans; } // Driver Code // Input 1 let M = 2, K = 2; let A = [3, 2, 5, 4, 6]; let N = 5; // Function Call console.log(maximizeSum(A, N, M, K)); // Input 2 let M1 = 3, K1 = 2; let A1 = [1, 1, 1, 1]; let N1 = 4; // Function Call console.log(maximizeSum(A1, N1, M1, K1)); Output2 0Time Complexity: O(NlogN) Auxiliary Space: O(N) Comment More infoAdvertise with us I iamkiran2233 Follow Improve Article Tags : Geeks Premier League DSA Arrays priority-queue Geeks Premier League 2023 +1 More Practice Tags : Arrayspriority-queue Similar Reads Basics & PrerequisitesLogic Building ProblemsLogic building is about creating clear, step-by-step methods to solve problems using simple rules and principles. 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