2481. Minimum Cuts to Divide a Circle
Description
A valid cut in a circle can be:
- A cut that is represented by a straight line that touches two points on the edge of the circle and passes through its center, or
- A cut that is represented by a straight line that touches one point on the edge of the circle and its center.
Some valid and invalid cuts are shown in the figures below.

Given the integer n
, return the minimum number of cuts needed to divide a circle into n
equal slices.
Example 1:

Input: n = 4 Output: 2 Explanation: The above figure shows how cutting the circle twice through the middle divides it into 4 equal slices.
Example 2:

Input: n = 3 Output: 3 Explanation: At least 3 cuts are needed to divide the circle into 3 equal slices. It can be shown that less than 3 cuts cannot result in 3 slices of equal size and shape. Also note that the first cut will not divide the circle into distinct parts.
Constraints:
1 <= n <= 100
Solutions
Solution 1: Case Discussion
When $n=1$, no cutting is needed, so the number of cuts is $0$;
When $n$ is odd, there is no collinear situation, and at least $n$ cuts are needed;
When $n$ is even, they can be collinear in pairs, and at least $\frac{n}{2}$ cuts are needed.
In summary, we can get:
$$ \textit{ans} = \begin{cases} n, & n \gt 1 \textit{ and } n \textit{ is odd} \ \frac{n}{2}, & n \textit{ is even} \ \end{cases} $$
The time complexity is $O(1)$, and the space complexity is $O(1)$.
Python3
class Solution:
def numberOfCuts(self, n: int) -> int:
return n if (n > 1 and n & 1) else n >> 1
Java
class Solution {
public int numberOfCuts(int n) {
return n > 1 && n % 2 == 1 ? n : n >> 1;
}
}
C++
class Solution {
public:
int numberOfCuts(int n) {
return n > 1 && n % 2 == 1 ? n : n >> 1;
}
};
Go
func numberOfCuts(n int) int {
if n > 1 && n%2 == 1 {
return n
}
return n >> 1
}
TypeScript
function numberOfCuts(n: number): number {
return n > 1 && n & 1 ? n : n >> 1;
}
Rust
impl Solution {
pub fn number_of_cuts(n: i32) -> i32 {
if n > 1 && n % 2 == 1 {
return n;
}
n >> 1
}
}
C#
public class Solution {
public int NumberOfCuts(int n) {
return n > 1 && n % 2 == 1 ? n : n >> 1;
}
}