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You are given a collection of ropes, where each rope has a positive integer length. The lengths are provided in an array called ropeLengths, where ropeLengths[i] represents the length of the i-th rope.
Your objective is to join all ropes into a single continuous rope by repeatedly tying any two ropes together. The cost of tying two ropes of lengths a and b together is equal to a + b (the sum of their lengths). After tying, the resulting rope has a length of a + b.
You must continue this process until only one rope remains. Your task is to determine the minimum total cost required to combine all ropes into one.
Key Insight: The order in which you tie the ropes together significantly affects the total cost. Choosing wisely which ropes to combine first can dramatically reduce the overall expense.
ropeLengths = [2, 4, 3]14Starting with ropeLengths = [2, 4, 3]:
ropeLengths = [1, 8, 3, 5]30Starting with ropeLengths = [1, 8, 3, 5]:
ropeLengths = [5]0There is only one rope, so no tying is needed. The total cost is 0.
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