Confusing Algorithm

[Tim Roberts]

RBotha <r at ymond.co.za> wrote:
>
>I'm facing the following problem:
>
>"""
>In a city of towerblocks, Spiderman can 
>“cover” all the towers by connecting the 
>first tower with a spider-thread to the top 
>of a later tower and then to a next tower 
>and then to yet another tower until he 
>reaches the end of the city. ...
>
>-Example:
>List of towers: 1 5 3 7 2 5 2
>Output: 4
>"""
>
>I'm not sure how a 'towerblock' could be defined. How square does a shape have to be to qualify as a towerblock? Any help on solving this problem?

Here's your city;

              [  ]
              [  ]
      [  ]    [  ]    [  ]
      [  ]    [  ]    [  ]
      [  ][  ][  ]    [  ]
      [  ][  ][  ][  ][  ][  ]
  [  ][  ][  ][  ][  ][  ][  ]
 ------------------------------
   A   B   C   D   E   F   G

Once you see the picture, you can see that you'd thread from B to D without
involving C.  I think you'll go A to B to D to F to G -- 4 threads.
-- 
Tim Roberts, timr at probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.