2025-08-24 14:36:34 +0000 UTC

class Solution:
    def minimumPairRemoval(self, nums: List[int], ans = 0) -> int:
        def notSorted(nums: List[int]) -> bool:
            for a, b in pairwise(nums):
                if a > b: 
                    return True
            return False
        
        while notSorted(nums):
            minSum, mnIdx = inf, -1
            for i, pair in enumerate(pairwise(nums)):
                if sum(pair) < minSum:
                    minSum, mnIdx, delIdx = sum(pair), i, i + 1
            nums[mnIdx] = minSum
            del nums[delIdx]
            ans += 1
        return ans