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Algorithm with Big O
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Algorithm with Big O

HardPython

Problem

Can you write a function to solve a classic algorithmic problem and explain its Big O complexity? Implement edit_distance(word1, word2) to return the minimum number of single-character insertions, deletions, or substitutions required to transform word1 into word2. Inputs are strings and the output is an integer. For example, edit_distance("horse", "ros") returns 3, while edit_distance("", "abc") returns 3; explain the time and space complexity.

Constraints

  • 0 <= len(word1), len(word2) <= 500
  • word1 and word2 contain lowercase English letters
  • Each operation inserts, deletes, or substitutes exactly one character
  • Return the minimum number of operations

Function Signature

def edit_distance(word1, word2):
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