Number of steps to reduce a number in binary representation to 1 - c++

Question

Given the binary representation of an integer as a string s, return the number of steps to reduce it to 1 under the following rules:
If the current number is even, you have to divide it by 2.
If the current number is odd, you have to add 1 to it.
It is guaranteed that you can always reach one for all test cases.
Step 1) 13 is odd, add 1 and obtain 14.
Step 2) 14 is even, divide by 2 and obtain 7.
Step 3) 7 is odd, add 1 and obtain 8.
Step 4) 8 is even, divide by 2 and obtain 4.
Step 5) 4 is even, divide by 2 and obtain 2.
Step 6) 2 is even, divide by 2 and obtain 1.
My input = 1111011110000011100000110001011011110010111001010111110001
Expected output = 85
My output = 81
For the above input, the output is supposed to be 85. But my output shows 81. For other test cases it
seems to be giving the right answer. I have been trying all possible debugs, but I am stuck.
#include <iostream>
#include <string.h>
#include <vector>
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string s =
"1111011110000011100000110001011011110010111001010111110001";
long int count = 0, size;
unsigned long long int dec = 0;
size = s.size();
// cout << s[size - 1] << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
// cout << pow(2, size - i - 1) << endl;
if (s[i] == '0')
continue;
// cout<<int(s[i])-48<<endl;
dec += (int(s[i]) - 48) * pow(2, size - 1 - i);
}
// cout << dec << endl;
// dec = 278675673186014705;
while (dec != 1)
{
if (dec % 2 == 0)
dec /= 2;
else
dec += 1;
count += 1;
}
cout << count;
return 0;
}

Answer 1

This line:
pow(2, size - 1 - i)
Can face precision errors as pow takes and returns doubles.
Luckily, for powers base 2 that won't overflow unsigned long longs, we can simply use bit shift (which is equivalent to pow(2, x)).
Replace that line with:
1LL<<(size - 1 - i)
So that it should look like this:
dec += (int(s[i]) - 48) * 1ULL<<(size - 1 - i);
And we will get the correct output of 85.
Note: as mentioned by #RSahu, you can remove (int(s[i]) - 48), as the case where int(s[i]) == '0' is already caught in an above if statement. Simply change the line to:
dec += 1ULL<<(size - 1 - i);

Answer 2

The core problem has already been pointed out in answer by #Ryan Zhang.
I want to offer some suggestions to improve your code and make it easier to debug.
The main function has two parts -- first part coverts a string to number and the second part computes the number of steps to get the number to 1. I suggest creating two helper functions. That will allow you to debug each piece separately.
int main()
{
string s = "1111011110000011100000110001011011110010111001010111110001";
unsigned long long int dec = stringToNumber(s);
cout << "Number: " << dec << endl;
// dec = 278675673186014705;
int count = getStepsTo1(dec);
cout << "Steps to 1: " << count << endl;
return 0;
}
Iterate over the string from right to left using std::string::reverse_iterator. That will obviate the need for size and use of size - i - 1. You can just use i.
unsigned long long stringToNumber(string const& s)
{
size_t i = 0;
unsigned long long num = 0;
for (auto it = s.rbegin(); it != s.rend(); ++it, ++i )
{
if (*it != '0')
{
num += 1ULL << i;
}
}
return num;
}
Here's the other helper function.
int getStepsTo1(unsigned long long num)
{
long int count = 0;
while (num != 1 )
{
if (num % 2 == 0)
num /= 2;
else
num += 1;
count += 1;
}
return count;
}
Working demo: https://ideone.com/yerRfK.