LeetCode 1046, Easy. Topics: Array, Heap (Priority Queue). View on LeetCode.
Generate this problem as a practice environment: tested reference solution, 17 parametrized pytest cases, and a playground notebook:
Problem
You are given an array of integers stones where stones[i] is the weight of the i^th stone.
We are playing a game with the stones. On each turn, we choose the heaviest two stones and smash them together. Suppose the heaviest two stones have weights x and y with x <= y. The result of this smash is:
- If
x == y, both stones are destroyed, and
- If
x != y, the stone of weight x is destroyed, and the stone of weight y has new weight y - x.
At the end of the game, there is at most one stone left.
Return the weight of the last remaining stone. If there are no stones left, return 0.
Examples
Constraints
- 1 <= stones.length <= 30
- 1 <= stones[i] <= 1000
Solution
Reference implementation from solution.py on GitHub, full suite in test_solution.py:
Complexity
NeetCode 150, NeetCode 250, NeetCode All. Last modified on September 7, 2026