Question

Given a stack with Integers, write a function that pops the top two numbers from the stack, adds them together, and pushes the result back on the stack. Continue doing this until the stack has only 1 value left (i.e., size of the stack is 1). When only 1 integer is left, pop that value and return that number. This should work for a stack with any number of values. If the stack is empty, simply return 0.

Answer 1

The function add_stack_elements iteratively adds the top two values of a stack and pushes the result back onto the stack, continuing this process until only one value remains, which it then pops and returns. If the stack is empty from the start, it returns 0.

Step-by-step explanation:

Creating a function to reduce a stack of integers to a single value by repeatedly adding the top two elements involves a loop that runs until the stack's size is reduced to 1. Assuming we're using a stack that has the standard LIFO (Last In, First Out) behavior with push and pop operations, here is a Python-like pseudocode for the described function:

def add_stack_elements(stack):
if len(stack) == 0:
return 0
while len(stack) > 1:
first = stack.pop()
second = stack.pop()
stack.push(first + second)
return stack.pop()

This function checks if the stack is empty first, returning 0 if true. Otherwise, it enters a while loop and continually pops the top two values, adds them, and then pushes the result back onto the stack. When the stack is reduced to one integer, it pops and returns that final value.