I have tried this problem a lot and also figured out the states. I am trying to build up a 2D dp table dp[i][j] where first i-1 signs are satisfied and last number in the sequence is j. can someone help me in finding out the transitions for these states and solve this problem in O(N^2). If someone could suggest a top-down approach it would be really helpful as i generally find it difficult to find transitions using bottom-up approach.