LeetcodeApr 29, 2025

Perfect Squares

Hazrat Ali

Leetcode

Given an integer n, return the least number of perfect square numbers that sum to n.

perfect square is an integer that is the square of an integer; in other words, it is the product of some integer with itself. For example, 149, and 16 are perfect squares while 3 and 11 are not.

 

Example 1:

Input: n = 12
Output: 3
Explanation: 12 = 4 + 4 + 4.

Example 2:

Input: n = 13
Output: 2
Explanation: 13 = 4 + 9.

Solution
/**
 * @param {number} n
 * @return {number}
 */
const numSquares = n => {
  if (n <= 0) {
    return 0;
  }

  const dp = Array(n + 1).fill(0);

  for (let i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
    dp[i] = Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER;

    for (let j = 1; j * j <= i; j++) {
      dp[i] = Math.min(dp[i], dp[i - j * j] + 1);
    }
  }

  return dp[n];
};



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