Leetcode 60. Permutation Sequence

The set 

[1,2,3,…,n]

 contains a total of n!
unique permutations.

By listing and labeling all of the permutations in order,

We get the following sequence (ie, for n = 3):

"123"

"132"

"213"

"231"

"312"

"321"

Given n and k, return the kth permutation sequence.

Note: Given n will be between 1 and 9 inclusive.

这道题discuss上有个很详细的说明，

say n = 4, you have {1, 2, 3, 4}

If you were to list out all the permutations you have

1 + (permutations of 2, 3, 4)

2 + (permutations of 1, 3, 4)

3 + (permutations of 1, 2, 4)

4 + (permutations of 1, 2, 3)

We know how to calculate the number of permutations of n numbers... n! So each of those with permutations of 3 numbers means there are 6 possible permutations. Meaning there would be a total of 24 permutations in this particular one. So if you were to look
for the (k = 14) 14th permutation, it would be in the

3 + (permutations of 1, 2, 4) subset.

To programmatically get that, you take k = 13 (subtract 1 because of things always starting at 0) and divide that by the 6 we got from the factorial, which would give you the index of the number you want. In the array {1, 2, 3, 4}, k/(n-1)! = 13/(4-1)! = 13/3!
= 13/6 = 2. The array {1, 2, 3, 4} has a value of 3 at index 2. So the first number is a 3.

Then the problem repeats with less numbers.

The permutations of {1, 2, 4} would be:

1 + (permutations of 2, 4)

2 + (permutations of 1, 4)

4 + (permutations of 1, 2)

But our k is no longer the 14th, because in the previous step, we've already eliminated the 12 4-number permutations starting with 1 and 2. So you subtract 12 from k.. which gives you 1. Programmatically that would be...

k = k - (index from previous) * (n-1)! = k - 2*(n-1)! = 13 - 2*(3)! = 1

In this second step, permutations of 2 numbers has only 2 possibilities, meaning each of the three permutations listed above a has two possibilities, giving a total of 6. We're looking for the first one, so that would be in the 1 + (permutations of 2, 4) subset.

Meaning: index to get number from is k / (n - 2)! = 1 / (4-2)! = 1 / 2! = 0.. from {1, 2, 4}, index 0 is 1

so the numbers we have so far is 3, 1... and then repeating without explanations.

{2, 4}

k = k - (index from pervious) * (n-2)! = k - 0 * (n - 2)! = 1 - 0 = 1;

third number's index = k / (n - 3)! = 1 / (4-3)! = 1/ 1! = 1... from {2, 4}, index 1 has 4

Third number is 4

{2}

k = k - (index from pervious) * (n - 3)! = k - 1 * (4 - 3)! = 1 - 1 = 0;

third number's index = k / (n - 4)! = 0 / (4-4)! = 0/ 1 = 0... from {2}, index 0 has 2

Fourth number is 2
解法：

public class Solution {
public String getPermutation(int n, int k) {
List<Integer> num = new LinkedList<Integer>();
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) num.add(i);
int[] fact = new int
; // factorial
fact[0] = 1;
for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) fact[i] = i*fact[i-1];
k = k-1;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (int i = n; i > 0; i--){
int ind = k/fact[i-1];
k = k%fact[i-1];
sb.append(num.get(ind));
num.remove(ind);
}
return sb.toString();
}
}