Write a function that returns the maximum profit that a trader could have made in a day. I solved this using a greedy algorithm which constantly sets the maximum profit by tracking the lowest price we've encountered.
		
			
				
	
	
		
			54 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			1.5 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Python
		
	
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			54 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			1.5 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Python
		
	
	
	
	
	
| import unittest
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| def get_max_profit(xs):
 | |
|     if len(xs) < 2:
 | |
|         raise Exception('Can only trade with two or more ticker values.')
 | |
|     lowest_buy = xs[0]
 | |
|     max_profit = None
 | |
|     for x in xs[1:]:
 | |
|         if not max_profit:
 | |
|             max_profit = x - lowest_buy
 | |
|         else:
 | |
|             max_profit = max(max_profit, x - lowest_buy)
 | |
|         lowest_buy = min(lowest_buy, x)
 | |
|     return max_profit
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| # Tests
 | |
| class Test(unittest.TestCase):
 | |
|     def test_price_goes_up_then_down(self):
 | |
|         actual = get_max_profit([1, 5, 3, 2])
 | |
|         expected = 4
 | |
|         self.assertEqual(actual, expected)
 | |
| 
 | |
|     def test_price_goes_down_then_up(self):
 | |
|         actual = get_max_profit([7, 2, 8, 9])
 | |
|         expected = 7
 | |
|         self.assertEqual(actual, expected)
 | |
| 
 | |
|     def test_price_goes_up_all_day(self):
 | |
|         actual = get_max_profit([1, 6, 7, 9])
 | |
|         expected = 8
 | |
|         self.assertEqual(actual, expected)
 | |
| 
 | |
|     def test_price_goes_down_all_day(self):
 | |
|         actual = get_max_profit([9, 7, 4, 1])
 | |
|         expected = -2
 | |
|         self.assertEqual(actual, expected)
 | |
| 
 | |
|     def test_price_stays_the_same_all_day(self):
 | |
|         actual = get_max_profit([1, 1, 1, 1])
 | |
|         expected = 0
 | |
|         self.assertEqual(actual, expected)
 | |
| 
 | |
|     def test_error_with_empty_prices(self):
 | |
|         with self.assertRaises(Exception):
 | |
|             get_max_profit([])
 | |
| 
 | |
|     def test_error_with_one_price(self):
 | |
|         with self.assertRaises(Exception):
 | |
|             get_max_profit([1])
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| unittest.main(verbosity=2)
 |