Construct the Minimum Bitwise Array II - Solution & Explanation

This approach relies on understanding the binary representation of numbers and utilizing bitwise operations effectively. The challenge is to decompose nums[i] into two consecutive numbers whose OR equals nums[i]. The key lies in setting the least significant zero bit in nums[i] to one. If there is no such zero, it is impossible to achieve and thus the result should be -1.

The algorithm iterates over each element in nums. If num is odd, it itself is a valid answer because odd numbers already meet the condition. For even num, we attempt to find ans[i] by identifying the smallest number y such that y OR (y + 1) = num. This is done by checking if removing the least significant set bit yields a number that still satisfies the condition.

This is a straightforward method that attempts to find solutions for each element in the nums array by brute-force checking each potential value for ans[i]. This approach is inefficient but guarantees correctness as it checks all possibilities.

This brute-force Python function iterates through each possible value from 0 to num - 1 for each element in nums and checks if it satisfies the condition. Once a valid ans is found, it stops further checks and moves to the next number. If no valid answer is found, it appends -1.