Sum of All Subset XOR Totals

Updated on 14 July, 2025
Sum of All Subset XOR Totals header image

Problem Statement

In this problem, the XOR total of any given array is defined by the bitwise XOR operation applied across all its elements, with a result of 0 for an empty array. The task is to compute the sum of the XOR totals for every possible subset of a given array nums. Importantly, each unique subset should be considered separately, and subsets containing the same elements but derived independently should contribute independently to the overall sum. Creating subsets involves selecting or disregarding each element of the array nums, meaning you can form a subset by either including or excluding each individual element without reordering.

Examples

Example 1

Input:

nums = [1,3]

Output:

6

Explanation:

The 4 subsets of [1,3] are:
- The empty subset has an XOR total of 0.
- [1] has an XOR total of 1.
- [3] has an XOR total of 3.
- [1,3] has an XOR total of 1 XOR 3 = 2.
0 + 1 + 3 + 2 = 6

Example 2

Input:

nums = [5,1,6]

Output:

28

Explanation:

The 8 subsets of [5,1,6] are:
- The empty subset has an XOR total of 0.
- [5] has an XOR total of 5.
- [1] has an XOR total of 1.
- [6] has an XOR total of 6.
- [5,1] has an XOR total of 5 XOR 1 = 4.
- [5,6] has an XOR total of 5 XOR 6 = 3.
- [1,6] has an XOR total of 1 XOR 6 = 7.
- [5,1,6] has an XOR total of 5 XOR 1 XOR 6 = 2.
0 + 5 + 1 + 6 + 4 + 3 + 7 + 2 = 28

Example 3

Input:

nums = [3,4,5,6,7,8]

Output:

480

Explanation:

The sum of all XOR totals for every subset is 480.

Constraints

  • 1 <= nums.length <= 12
  • 1 <= nums[i] <= 20

Approach and Intuition

The task of finding the sum of XOR totals for every possible subset of the array nums can be approached using computational enumeration of subsets and XOR operations:

  1. Subset Generation:

    • Each element of the array can either be included or excluded in a subset.
    • For an array of length n, there are 2^n subsets, including the empty set.
  2. XOR Calculation and Accumulation:

    • For each subset, calculate the XOR value by sequentially applying the XOR operation to the elements of that subset.
    • Accumulate or sum up the XOR totals of all subsets.
  3. Iterative or Recursive Subset Construction:

    • We can either construct subsets iteratively by binary counting from 0 to 2^n - 1 and mapping each binary number to a subset.
    • Alternatively, a recursive function that builds subsets by including or excluding each element can be used.
  4. Efficiency Considerations:

    • Calculating all possible subsets and their XOR values is computationally intense but feasible within the provided constraints where the maximum length of nums is 12.
  5. Examples and Observations:

    • The example cases help illustrate the exponential growth of output contributions from subsets. By breaking down each set individually, we recognize patterns such as the impact of singleton sets, paired combinations, and so forth on the accumulated XOR total.

In essence, the solution involves generating all possible ways to pick or ignore each element of the array nums and systematically applying the XOR operation while maintaining a running total of these XOR values. The problem highlights not only a typical combinatorial enumeration challenge but also the usefulness of bitwise operations in aggregating computationally recognizable totals.

Solutions

  • C++
cpp
class Solution {
public:
    int calculateSubsetXORSum(vector<int>& elements) {
        int combined = 0;
        for (int element : elements) {
            combined |= element;
        }
        return combined << (elements.size() - 1);
    }
};

The provided C++ code defines a function calculateSubsetXORSum that calculates the sum of all XOR combinations for all possible subsets of a given vector of integers. This function approaches the problem using bitwise manipulation.

Follow this brief explanation to understand how the code functions:

  • A variable combined is initiated to zero and is used to store the combined result of a bitwise OR operation on all elements in the vector.
  • The code iterates over each element in the vector elements, updating the combined variable by applying a bitwise OR with the current element. This operation accumulates all bits set in any element of the vector into combined.
  • Finally, the function returns the value of combined, shifted to the left by the number (size of the vector minus one). This left shift operation corresponds to multiplying the combined result by 2 raised to the power of (elements.size() - 1), effectively calculating the sum of all subset XOR totals.

The operation of left shifting aggregates contributions of the combined value across all possible combinations of elements (subsets), thus providing the desired sum in an optimized manner.

  • Java
java
class Solution {
    public int calculateSubsetsXOR(int[] elements) {
        int total = 0;
        for (int element : elements) {
            total |= element;
        }
        return total << (elements.length - 1);
    }
}

The provided Java code outlines a solution to calculate the sum of all subset XOR totals for a given array of integers. This solution employs a bit manipulation trick which utilizes the OR bitwise operation combined with a left shift to derive the desired result.

Here is the breakdown of the code:

  • An integer total is initialized to zero, which will later accumulate the results of the bitwise OR operation.
  • The code iterates over each element in the input array elements. Within the loop, the current element is combined with total using the bitwise OR operation (|=). This operation accumulates all the bits set in any element of the array.
  • After processing all elements, total now contains the combined effect of all the ones in the bit positions from the entire array.
  • The function finally returns total shifted to the left by (elements.length - 1) places. This left shift operation theoretically multiplies the total by 2 raised to the power of (elements.length - 1), which aligns with counting the contribution of total across all subsets, except the empty subset.

This concise approach ensures that the code is not only efficient but also capitalizes on the properties of bitwise operations to solve the problem effectively. Remember, this solution leverages the characteristic of XOR where a number XORed with itself results in zero and a number XORed with zero remains unchanged; thus, any subset where a number appears an even number of times (including zero times) in XOR operations contributes nothing to the total sum. The presented method smartly navigates these properties to achieve the desired results within computational limits.

  • Python
python
class Solution:
    def calculateSubsetXOR(self, numbers: List[int]) -> int:
        total_xor = 0
        for number in numbers:
            total_xor |= number
        return total_xor << (len(numbers) - 1)

This Python code snippet is designed to compute the sum of all subset XOR totals for a given list of integers. The function calculateSubsetXOR within the class Solution performs the calculation based on a bit manipulation approach. The code leverages the OR bitwise operator to determine the combined effect of all elements when subjected to XOR operations across all possible subsets. The final result is then left-shifted by one less than the number of elements (i.e., len(numbers) - 1). This bitwise shift essentially multiplies the total obtained from the bitwise OR operation by two raised to the power of (len(numbers) - 1), yielding the sum of all XOR combinations of the subsets. This method efficiently computes the desired value without needing to iterate through each subset explicitly.

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