Cutting Metal Surplus

Problem Overview

• Maximize profit by choosing an integer saleLength and cutting rods so sellable pieces match that length; profit = totalUniformRodssaleLengthsalePrice − totalCuts*costPerCut.
• Inputs: costPerCut, salePrice, lengths[n]; output: integer maximum profit; discard pieces not equal to saleLength.
• Constraints: 1<=n<=50, 1<=lengths[i]<=10^4, 1<=salePrice,costPerCut<=100.
• Real-world: Construction company selling surplus rods with cutting costs.
• Asked in Goldman interviews; a coding interview interview question and practice problem.