LeetCode 12: Integer to Roman

Problem Description

LeetCode Problem 12

Seven different symbols represent Roman numerals with the following values:

Roman numerals are formed by appending the conversions of decimal place values from highest to lowest. Converting a decimal place value into a Roman numeral has the following rules:

• If the value does not start with 4 or 9, select the symbol of the maximal value that can be subtracted from the input, append that symbol to the result, subtract its value, and convert the remainder to a Roman numeral.
• If the value starts with 4 or 9 use the subtractive form representing one symbol subtracted from the following symbol, for example, 4 is 1 (I) less than 5 (V): IV and 9 is 1 (I) less than 10 (X): IX. Only the following subtractive forms are used: 4 (IV), 9 (IX), 40 (XL), 90 (XC), 400 (CD) and 900 (CM).
• Only powers of 10 (I, X, C, M) can be appended consecutively at most 3 times to represent multiples of 10. You cannot append 5 (V), 50 (L), or 500 (D) multiple times. If you need to append a symbol 4 times use the subtractive form.

Given an integer, convert it to a Roman numeral.

Example 1:

3000 = MMM as 1000 (M) + 1000 (M) + 1000 (M)
700 = DCC as 500 (D) + 100 (C) + 100 (C)
40 = XL as 10 (X) less of 50 (L)
9 = IX as 1 (I) less of 10 (X)
Note: 49 is not 1 (I) less of 50 (L) because the conversion is based on decimal places

Example 2:

50 = L
8 = VIII

Example 3:

1000 = M
900 = CM
90 = XC
4 = IV

Constraints:

• 1 <= num <= 3999

Difficulty: Medium

Tags: hash table, math, string

Rating: 56.98%

Complexity Analysis

The solution has the following complexity characteristics:

• Time Complexity: $O(1)$ since the input is limited to a fixed range
• Space Complexity: $O(1)$ since the output is a fixed-size string

Solution

Here’s my Python solution to this problem:

class Solution:
    def intToRoman(self, num: int) -> str:
        value_symbols = [
            (1000, "M"),
            (900, "CM"),
            (500, "D"),
            (400, "CD"),
            (100, "C"),
            (90, "XC"),
            (50, "L"),
            (40, "XL"),
            (10, "X"),
            (9, "IX"),
            (5, "V"),
            (4, "IV"),
            (1, "I")
        ]
        
        result = ""
        for value, symbol in value_symbols:
            while num >= value:
                result += symbol
                num -= value
        
        return result