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How to find the minimum number in an array?
Loop over the array and compare each one of the numbers.
How to find the sum of digits?
Divide the number consecutively and get their remainder modulus 10. Sum those remainders and return the answer as the problem asks.
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The digit sum is used to determine a property of the smallest value in the array. By checking whether the digit sum is even or odd, the algorithm returns a predefined indicator, which forms the core logic of the problem.
Problems like this are commonly used as warm-up or screening questions in technical interviews. While FAANG interviews often focus on medium and hard problems, easy problems like this help evaluate basic logic, array handling, and attention to detail.
A simple array traversal is sufficient for this problem since the input is already given as an array. No advanced data structures are required because the task only involves finding the minimum value and performing arithmetic operations on it.
The optimal approach is to first scan the array to find the minimum element. Then compute the sum of its digits and check whether the result is even or odd. This method runs in linear time and uses constant extra space.