2025-10-30
1526. Minimum Number of Increments on Subarrays to Form a Target Array

Topic: Array, Dynamic Programming, Stack, Greedy, Monotonic Stack
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given an integer array target. You have an integer array initial of the same size as target with all elements initially zeros.

In one operation you can choose any subarray from initial and increment each value by one.

Return the minimum number of operations to form a target array from initial.

The test cases are generated so that the answer fits in a 32-bit integer.

Example 1:

Input: target = [1,2,3,2,1]
Output: 3
Explanation: We need at least 3 operations to form the target array from the initial array.
[0,0,0,0,0] increment 1 from index 0 to 4 (inclusive).
[1,1,1,1,1] increment 1 from index 1 to 3 (inclusive).
[1,2,2,2,1] increment 1 at index 2.
[1,2,3,2,1] target array is formed.

Example 2:

Input: target = [3,1,1,2]
Output: 4
Explanation: [0,0,0,0] -> [1,1,1,1] -> [1,1,1,2] -> [2,1,1,2] -> [3,1,1,2]

Example 3:

Input: target = [3,1,5,4,2]
Output: 7
Explanation: [0,0,0,0,0] -> [1,1,1,1,1] -> [2,1,1,1,1] -> [3,1,1,1,1] -> [3,1,2,2,2] -> [3,1,3,3,2] -> [3,1,4,4,2] -> [3,1,5,4,2].

Constraints:

• 1 <= target.length <= 10^5
• 1 <= target[i] <= 10^5

2025-10-31
3289. The Two Sneaky Numbers of Digitville

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Math
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
In the town of Digitville, there was a list of numbers called nums containing integers from 0 to n - 1. Each number was supposed to appear exactly once in the list, however, two mischievous numbers sneaked in an additional time, making the list longer than usual.

As the town detective, your task is to find these two sneaky numbers. Return an array of size two containing the two numbers (in any order), so peace can return to Digitville.

Example 1:

Input: nums = 0,1,1,0

Output: 0,1

Explanation:

The numbers 0 and 1 each appear twice in the array.

Example 2:

Input: nums = 0,3,2,1,3,2

Output: 2,3

Explanation:

The numbers 2 and 3 each appear twice in the array.

Example 3:

Input: nums = 7,1,5,4,3,4,6,0,9,5,8,2

Output: 4,5

Explanation:

The numbers 4 and 5 each appear twice in the array.

Constraints:

• 2 <= n <= 100
• nums.length == n + 2
• 0 <= nums[i] < n
• The input is generated such that nums contains exactly two repeated elements.

2025-11-01
3217. Delete Nodes From Linked List Present in Array

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Linked List
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given an array of integers nums and the head of a linked list. Return the head of the modified linked list after removing all nodes from the linked list that have a value that exists in nums.

Example 1:

Input: nums = 1,2,3, head = 1,2,3,4,5

Output: 4,5

Explanation:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/11/linkedlistexample0.png

Remove the nodes with values 1, 2, and 3.

Example 2:

Input: nums = 1, head = 1,2,1,2,1,2

Output: 2,2,2

Explanation:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/11/linkedlistexample1.png

Remove the nodes with value 1.

Example 3:

Input: nums = 5, head = 1,2,3,4

Output: 1,2,3,4

Explanation:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2024/06/11/linkedlistexample2.png

No node has value 5.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 10^5
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 10^5
• All elements in nums are unique.
• The number of nodes in the given list is in the range [1, 10^5].
• 1 <= Node.val <= 10^5
• The input is generated such that there is at least one node in the linked list that has a value not present in nums.

2025-11-02
2257. Count Unguarded Cells in the Grid

Topic: Array, Matrix, Simulation
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given two integers m and n representing a 0-indexed m x n grid. You are also given two 2D integer arrays guards and walls where guards[i] = [row_i, col_i] and walls[j] = [row_j, col_j] represent the positions of the i^th guard and j^th wall respectively.

A guard can see every cell in the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, or west) starting from their position unless obstructed by a wall or another guard. A cell is guarded if there is at least one guard that can see it.

Return the number of unoccupied cells that are not guarded.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/03/10/example1drawio2.png

Input: m = 4, n = 6, guards = [[0,0],[1,1],[2,3]], walls = [[0,1],[2,2],[1,4]]
Output: 7
Explanation: The guarded and unguarded cells are shown in red and green respectively in the above diagram.
There are a total of 7 unguarded cells, so we return 7.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/03/10/example2drawio.png

Input: m = 3, n = 3, guards = [[1,1]], walls = [[0,1],[1,0],[2,1],[1,2]]
Output: 4
Explanation: The unguarded cells are shown in green in the above diagram.
There are a total of 4 unguarded cells, so we return 4.

Constraints:

• 1 <= m, n <= 10^5
• 2 <= m * n <= 10^5
• 1 <= guards.length, walls.length <= 5 * 10^4
• 2 <= guards.length + walls.length <= m * n
• guards[i].length == walls[j].length == 2
• 0 <= row_i, row_j < m
• 0 <= col_i, col_j < n
• All the positions in guards and walls are unique.

2025-11-03
1578. Minimum Time to Make Rope Colorful

Topic: Array, String, Dynamic Programming, Greedy
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Alice has n balloons arranged on a rope. You are given a 0-indexed string colors where colors[i] is the color of the i^th balloon.

Alice wants the rope to be colorful. She does not want two consecutive balloons to be of the same color, so she asks Bob for help. Bob can remove some balloons from the rope to make it colorful. You are given a 0-indexed integer array neededTime where neededTime[i] is the time (in seconds) that Bob needs to remove the i^th balloon from the rope.

Return the minimum time Bob needs to make the rope colorful.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/12/13/ballon1.jpg

Input: colors = "abaac", neededTime = [1,2,3,4,5]
Output: 3
Explanation: In the above image, 'a' is blue, 'b' is red, and 'c' is green.
Bob can remove the blue balloon at index 2. This takes 3 seconds.
There are no longer two consecutive balloons of the same color. Total time = 3.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/12/13/balloon2.jpg

Input: colors = "abc", neededTime = [1,2,3]
Output: 0
Explanation: The rope is already colorful. Bob does not need to remove any balloons from the rope.

Example 3:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/12/13/balloon3.jpg

Input: colors = "aabaa", neededTime = [1,2,3,4,1]
Output: 2
Explanation: Bob will remove the balloons at indices 0 and 4. Each balloons takes 1 second to remove.
There are no longer two consecutive balloons of the same color. Total time = 1 + 1 = 2.

Constraints:

• n == colors.length == neededTime.length
• 1 <= n <= 10^5
• 1 <= neededTime[i] <= 10^4
• colors contains only lowercase English letters.

2025-11-04
3318. Find X-Sum of All K-Long Subarrays I

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Sliding Window, Heap (Priority Queue)
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
You are given an array nums of n integers and two integers k and x.

The x-sum of an array is calculated by the following procedure:

• Count the occurrences of all elements in the array.
• Keep only the occurrences of the top x most frequent elements. If two elements have the same number of occurrences, the element with the bigger value is considered more frequent.
• Calculate the sum of the resulting array.

Note that if an array has less than x distinct elements, its x-sum is the sum of the array.

Return an integer array answer of length n - k + 1 where answer[i] is the x-sum of the subarray nums[i..i + k - 1].

Example 1:

Input: nums = 1,1,2,2,3,4,2,3, k = 6, x = 2

Output: 6,10,12

Explanation:

• For subarray [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4], only elements 1 and 2 will be kept in the resulting array. Hence, answer[0] = 1 + 1 + 2 + 2.
• For subarray [1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 2], only elements 2 and 4 will be kept in the resulting array. Hence, answer[1] = 2 + 2 + 2 + 4. Note that 4 is kept in the array since it is bigger than 3 and 1 which occur the same number of times.
• For subarray [2, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3], only elements 2 and 3 are kept in the resulting array. Hence, answer[2] = 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3.

Example 2:

Input: nums = 3,8,7,8,7,5, k = 2, x = 2

Output: 11,15,15,15,12

Explanation:

Since k == x, answer[i] is equal to the sum of the subarray nums[i..i + k - 1].

Constraints:

• 1 <= n == nums.length <= 50
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 50
• 1 <= x <= k <= nums.length

2025-11-05
3321. Find X-Sum of All K-Long Subarrays II

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Sliding Window, Heap (Priority Queue)
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given an array nums of n integers and two integers k and x.

The x-sum of an array is calculated by the following procedure:

• Count the occurrences of all elements in the array.
• Keep only the occurrences of the top x most frequent elements. If two elements have the same number of occurrences, the element with the bigger value is considered more frequent.
• Calculate the sum of the resulting array.

Note that if an array has less than x distinct elements, its x-sum is the sum of the array.

Return an integer array answer of length n - k + 1 where answer[i] is the x-sum of the subarray nums[i..i + k - 1].

Example 1:

Input: nums = 1,1,2,2,3,4,2,3, k = 6, x = 2

Output: 6,10,12

Explanation:

• For subarray [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4], only elements 1 and 2 will be kept in the resulting array. Hence, answer[0] = 1 + 1 + 2 + 2.
• For subarray [1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 2], only elements 2 and 4 will be kept in the resulting array. Hence, answer[1] = 2 + 2 + 2 + 4. Note that 4 is kept in the array since it is bigger than 3 and 1 which occur the same number of times.
• For subarray [2, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3], only elements 2 and 3 are kept in the resulting array. Hence, answer[2] = 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3.

Example 2:

Input: nums = 3,8,7,8,7,5, k = 2, x = 2

Output: 11,15,15,15,12

Explanation:

Since k == x, answer[i] is equal to the sum of the subarray nums[i..i + k - 1].

Constraints:

• nums.length == n
• 1 <= n <= 10^5
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
• 1 <= x <= k <= nums.length