Bomb dropping algorithm

Question

I have an n x m matrix consisting of non-negative integers. For example:

2 3 4 7 1
1 5 2 6 2
4 3 4 2 1
2 1 2 4 1
3 1 3 4 1
2 1 4 3 2
6 9 1 6 4
         


        

Answer 1

Your new problem, with the nondecreasing values across rows, is quite easy to solve.

Observe that the left column contains the highest numbers. Therefore, any optimal solution must first reduce this column to zero. Thus, we can perform a 1-D bombing run over this column, reducing every element in it to zero. We let the bombs fall on the second column so they do maximum damage. There are many posts here dealing with the 1D case, I think, so I feel safe in skipping that case. (If you want me to describe it, I can.). Because of the decreasing property, the three leftmost columns will all be reduced to zero. But, we will provably use a minimum number of bombs here because the left column must be zeroed.

Now, once the left column is zeroed, we just trim off the three leftmost columns that are now zeroed and repeat with the now-reduced matrix. This must give us an optimal solution since at each stage we use a provably minimum number of bombs.