CareerCup

@Anonymous - there's a typo - it should be i++ not 1++

this question is malformed. does not clearly state the problem.

never mind. i found a bug in my above code. it does not work for this input isKPalindrome("sbandanarb", 5)

@miguel - great solution! i used the dp / edit distance approach like you suggested and i think it works.. not sure if i did it exactly like you said... but same general idea..

private static boolean isKPalindrome(String s, int k) {
		boolean result = false;
		String r = new StringBuilder(s).reverse().toString();
		
		char[] sc = s.toCharArray();
		char[] rc = r.toCharArray();
		
		int[][] t = new int[s.length()/2 + 1][s.length()/2 + 1];
		
		int i = 0;
		int j = 0;
		
		for (;i<t.length;i++) {
			t[i][0] = i;			
		}
		for (;j<t[0].length;j++) {
			t[0][j] = j;			
		}
		for (i = 1; i < t.length;i++) {
			for (j = 1; j < t.length;j++) {
				int c =0;
				if(sc[i] == rc[j]) {
					c = 0;
				} else {
					c = 2;
				}
				t[i][j] = Math.min(Math.min(t[i-1][j] +1 , t[i][j-1] + 1), c + t[i-1][j-1]);
				if(i == t.length-1 || j == t.length-1) {
					result = t[i][j] <= k ? true : false;
					break;
				}
			}
		}
		return result;
	}

@maks - this does not work

private static void printFunny(int n) {
		
		for (int i =1; i <= n; i++) {
			
			for (int j=0; j < n-i; j++) {
				System.out.print("*");
			}
			for (int k = 0; k < 2*(i-1) + 1; k++) {
				if (k % 2 == 0)
					System.out.print(i);
				else
					System.out.print("*");
			}
			for (int l=0; l < n-i; l++) {
				System.out.print("*");
			}
			System.out.println();
		}
		
		System.out.println();
		
	}

Output results:
***1***
**2*2**
*3*3*3*
4*4*4*4

****1****
***2*2***
**3*3*3**
*4*4*4*4*
5*5*5*5*5

******1******
*****2*2*****
****3*3*3****
***4*4*4*4***
**5*5*5*5*5**
*6*6*6*6*6*6*
7*7*7*7*7*7*7

********1********
*******2*2*******
******3*3*3******
*****4*4*4*4*****
****5*5*5*5*5****
***6*6*6*6*6*6***
**7*7*7*7*7*7*7**
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9*9