How to find out the minimum no. of elements in a List which has sum equals to given value, in Python

Question

List = [2,3,5] (sequence of prime numbers list. len(list) = n = 3)
sum = 11
output = [5,3,3] (minimum no.of elements which gives the sum of 11

When i'm executing the following i can able to get the output of unique elements but i want to add the elements repeatedly if required like(5+3+3). Can someone help to me to find out this?

import itertools

total = 9
array = [2,3,5]
for i in range(1, len(array)+1):
for w in itertools.combinations(array, i):
if sum(w) == total:
print (list(w))

Answer 1

You should use combinations_with_replacement instead:

import itertools

total = 9
array = [2,3,5]
for i in range(1, len(array)+1):
for w in itertools.combinations_with_replacement(array, i):
if sum(w) == total:
print (list(w))

>>>
[2, 2, 5]
[3, 3, 3]

Answer 2

You only allowed the combinations to be of "i" elements. Since "i" assumes values: 0 and 1 (in the for loop), you only receive the result for such, which is empty, of course.

Try iterating from 1 to the number which is the value of the "total" divided by the smallest element of the array (then +1) to guarantee the result, if it is possible at all.

Oh, and don't use 0 as the array element, of course ;)

Answer 3

I tried this code(plz don't mind the syntax)
t=2,3,4
n=11
y=[ ]
for a in t:
for b in t:
for c in t:
If (a+b+c)==n:
y=y+[[a,b,c]]
Print(y)
I got three outputs
3,3,5
3,5,3
5,3,3
This is a very bad way of solving this but....
If you can make a function which can generate for loops like the ones above then this will work

Answer 4

@ Kuba Siekierzyński and @Yash Jain Thank you. but still i have small issue .
when I'm trying to run this input is not running since its not a combination
import itertools

total = 4
array = [2]
for i in range(len(array)+1):
for w in itertools.combinations_with_replacement(array, i):
if sum(w) == total:
print ((w))

I want to get an output of [2,2] #2+2 = 4