LeetCode 135 Candy - Problem Statement

Children stand in a line with ratings. Distribute candies so that: $1.$ Every child gets at least one candy. $2.$ Children with higher ratings than neighbors get more candies than those neighbors.

Minimize total candies.

With ratings = [1,0,2]:

• Child 1 (rating 0) gets 1 candy.
• Child 0 (rating 1 > 0) gets 2 candies.
• Child 2 (rating 2 > 0) gets 2 candies.
• Total: $5$ candies.

With ratings = [1,2,2]:

• Child 0: 1 candy.
• Child 1 (2 > 1): 2 candies.
• Child 2 (2 = 2): 1 candy (not higher).
• Total: $4$ candies.

Constraints: $1 \le$ ratings.length $\le 2 \times 10^4$.