3270. Find the Key of the Numbers
Description
You are given three positive integers num1, num2, and num3.
The key of num1, num2, and num3 is defined as a four-digit number such that:
- Initially, if any number has less than four digits, it is padded with leading zeros.
 - The 
ithdigit (1 <= i <= 4) of thekeyis generated by taking the smallest digit among theithdigits ofnum1,num2, andnum3. 
Return the key of the three numbers without leading zeros (if any).
Example 1:
Input: num1 = 1, num2 = 10, num3 = 1000
Output: 0
Explanation:
On padding, num1 becomes "0001", num2 becomes "0010", and num3 remains "1000".
- The 
1stdigit of thekeyismin(0, 0, 1). - The 
2nddigit of thekeyismin(0, 0, 0). - The 
3rddigit of thekeyismin(0, 1, 0). - The 
4thdigit of thekeyismin(1, 0, 0). 
Hence, the key is "0000", i.e. 0.
Example 2:
Input: num1 = 987, num2 = 879, num3 = 798
Output: 777
Example 3:
Input: num1 = 1, num2 = 2, num3 = 3
Output: 1
Constraints:
1 <= num1, num2, num3 <= 9999
Solutions
Solution 1: Simulation
We can directly simulate this process by defining a variable \(\textit{ans}\) to store the answer and a variable \(\textit{k}\) to represent the current digit place, where \(\textit{k} = 1\) represents the units place, \(\textit{k} = 10\) represents the tens place, and so on.
Starting from the units place, for each digit place, we calculate the current digit of \(\textit{num1}\), \(\textit{num2}\), and \(\textit{num3}\), take the minimum of the three, and then add this minimum value multiplied by \(\textit{k}\) to the answer. Then, multiply \(\textit{k}\) by 10 and continue to the next digit place.
Finally, return the answer.
The time complexity is \(O(1)\), and the space complexity is \(O(1)\).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  |  | 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  |  | 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12  |  | 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  |  | 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  |  |