2023-10-08
1458. Max Dot Product of Two Subsequences

Topic: Array, Dynamic Programming
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
Given two arrays nums1 and nums2.

Return the maximum dot product between non-empty subsequences of nums1 and nums2 with the same length.

A subsequence of a array is a new array which is formed from the original array by deleting some (can be none) of the characters without disturbing the relative positions of the remaining characters. (ie, [2,3,5] is a subsequence of [1,2,3,4,5] while [1,5,3] is not).

Example 1:

Input: nums1 = [2,1,-2,5], nums2 = [3,0,-6]
Output: 18
Explanation: Take subsequence [2,-2] from nums1 and subsequence [3,-6] from nums2.
Their dot product is (2*3 + (-2)*(-6)) = 18.

Example 2:

Input: nums1 = [3,-2], nums2 = [2,-6,7]
Output: 21
Explanation: Take subsequence [3] from nums1 and subsequence [7] from nums2.
Their dot product is (3*7) = 21.

Example 3:

Input: nums1 = [-1,-1], nums2 = [1,1]
Output: -1
Explanation: Take subsequence [-1] from nums1 and subsequence [1] from nums2.
Their dot product is -1.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums1.length, nums2.length <= 500
• -1000 <= nums1[i], nums2[i] <= 1000

2023-10-09
34. Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array

Topic: Array, Binary Search
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given an array of integers nums sorted in non-decreasing order, find the starting and ending position of a given target value.

If target is not found in the array, return [-1, -1].

You must write an algorithm with O(log n) runtime complexity.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [5,7,7,8,8,10], target = 8
Output: [3,4]

Example 2:

Input: nums = [5,7,7,8,8,10], target = 6
Output: [-1,-1]

Example 3:

Input: nums = [], target = 0
Output: [-1,-1]

Constraints:

• 0 <= nums.length <= 10^5
• -10^9 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
• nums is a non-decreasing array.
• -10^9 <= target <= 10^9

2023-10-10
2009. Minimum Number of Operations to Make Array Continuous

Topic: Array, Binary Search
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given an integer array nums. In one operation, you can replace any element in nums with any integer.

nums is considered continuous if both of the following conditions are fulfilled:

• All elements in nums are unique.
• The difference between the maximum element and the minimum element in nums equals nums.length - 1.

For example, nums = [4, 2, 5, 3] is continuous, but nums = [1, 2, 3, 5, 6] is not continuous.

Return the minimum number of operations to make nums continuous.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [4,2,5,3]
Output: 0
Explanation: nums is already continuous.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,2,3,5,6]
Output: 1
Explanation: One possible solution is to change the last element to 4.
The resulting array is [1,2,3,5,4], which is continuous.

Example 3:

Input: nums = [1,10,100,1000]
Output: 3
Explanation: One possible solution is to:
- Change the second element to 2.
- Change the third element to 3.
- Change the fourth element to 4.
The resulting array is [1,2,3,4], which is continuous.

Constraints:

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

2023-10-11
2251. Number of Flowers in Full Bloom

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Binary Search, Sorting, Prefix Sum, Ordered Set
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given a 0-indexed 2D integer array flowers, where flowers[i] = [start_i, end_i] means the i^th flower will be in full bloom from start_i to end_i (inclusive). You are also given a 0-indexed integer array people of size n, where people[i] is the time that the i^th person will arrive to see the flowers.

Return an integer array answer of size n, where answer[i] is the number of flowers that are in full bloom when the i^th person arrives.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/03/02/ex1new.jpg

Input: flowers = [[1,6],[3,7],[9,12],[4,13]], poeple = [2,3,7,11]
Output: [1,2,2,2]
Explanation: The figure above shows the times when the flowers are in full bloom and when the people arrive.
For each person, we return the number of flowers in full bloom during their arrival.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2022/03/02/ex2new.jpg

Input: flowers = [[1,10],[3,3]], poeple = [3,3,2]
Output: [2,2,1]
Explanation: The figure above shows the times when the flowers are in full bloom and when the people arrive.
For each person, we return the number of flowers in full bloom during their arrival.

Constraints:

• 1 <= flowers.length <= 5 * 10^4
• flowers[i].length == 2
• 1 <= start_i <= end_i <= 10^9
• 1 <= people.length <= 5 * 10^4
• 1 <= people[i] <= 10^9

2023-10-12
1095. Find in Mountain Array

Topic: Array, Binary Search, Interactive
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
(This problem is an interactive problem.)

You may recall that an array arr is a mountain array if and only if:

• arr.length >= 3
• There exists some i with 0 < i < arr.length - 1 such that:
• arr[0] < arr[1] < ... < arr[i - 1] < arr[i]
• arr[i] > arr[i + 1] > ... > arr[arr.length - 1]

Given a mountain array mountainArr, return the minimum index such that mountainArr.get(index) == target. If such an index does not exist, return -1.

You cannot access the mountain array directly. You may only access the array using a MountainArray interface:

• MountainArray.get(k) returns the element of the array at index k (0-indexed).
• MountainArray.length() returns the length of the array.

Submissions making more than 100 calls to MountainArray.get will be judged Wrong Answer. Also, any solutions that attempt to circumvent the judge will result in disqualification.

Example 1:

Input: array = [1,2,3,4,5,3,1], target = 3
Output: 2
Explanation: 3 exists in the array, at index=2 and index=5. Return the minimum index, which is 2.

Example 2:

Input: array = [0,1,2,4,2,1], target = 3
Output: -1
Explanation: 3 does not exist in the array, so we return -1.

Constraints:

• 3 <= mountain_arr.length() <= 10^4
• 0 <= target <= 10^9
• 0 <= mountain_arr.get(index) <= 10^9

2023-10-13
746. Min Cost Climbing Stairs

Topic: Array, Dynamic Programming
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
You are given an integer array cost where cost[i] is the cost of i^th step on a staircase. Once you pay the cost, you can either climb one or two steps.

You can either start from the step with index 0, or the step with index 1.

Return the minimum cost to reach the top of the floor.

Example 1:

Input: cost = [10,15,20]
Output: 15
Explanation: You will start at index 1.
- Pay 15 and climb two steps to reach the top.
The total cost is 15.

Example 2:

Input: cost = [1,100,1,1,1,100,1,1,100,1]
Output: 6
Explanation: You will start at index 0.
- Pay 1 and climb two steps to reach index 2.
- Pay 1 and climb two steps to reach index 4.
- Pay 1 and climb two steps to reach index 6.
- Pay 1 and climb one step to reach index 7.
- Pay 1 and climb two steps to reach index 9.
- Pay 1 and climb one step to reach the top.
The total cost is 6.

Constraints:

• 2 <= cost.length <= 1000
• 0 <= cost[i] <= 999

2023-10-14
2742. Painting the Walls

Topic: Array, Dynamic Programming
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given two 0-indexed integer arrays, cost and time, of size n representing the costs and the time taken to paint n different walls respectively. There are two painters available:

• A paid painter that paints the i^th wall in time[i] units of time and takes cost[i] units of money.
• A free painter that paints any wall in 1 unit of time at a cost of 0. But the free painter can only be used if the paid painter is already occupied.

Return the minimum amount of money required to paint the n walls.

Example 1:

Input: cost = [1,2,3,2], time = [1,2,3,2]
Output: 3
Explanation: The walls at index 0 and 1 will be painted by the paid painter, and it will take 3 units of time; meanwhile, the free painter will paint the walls at index 2 and 3, free of cost in 2 units of time. Thus, the total cost is 1 + 2 = 3.

Example 2:

Input: cost = [2,3,4,2], time = [1,1,1,1]
Output: 4
Explanation: The walls at index 0 and 3 will be painted by the paid painter, and it will take 2 units of time; meanwhile, the free painter will paint the walls at index 1 and 2, free of cost in 2 units of time. Thus, the total cost is 2 + 2 = 4.

Constraints:

• 1 <= cost.length <= 500
• cost.length == time.length
• 1 <= cost[i] <= 10^6
• 1 <= time[i] <= 500

2023-10-15
1269. Number of Ways to Stay in the Same Place After Some Steps

Topic: Dynamic Programming
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You have a pointer at index 0 in an array of size arrLen. At each step, you can move 1 position to the left, 1 position to the right in the array, or stay in the same place (The pointer should not be placed outside the array at any time).

Given two integers steps and arrLen, return the number of ways such that your pointer is still at index 0 after exactly steps steps. Since the answer may be too large, return it modulo 10^9 + 7.

Example 1:

Input: steps = 3, arrLen = 2
Output: 4
Explanation: There are 4 differents ways to stay at index 0 after 3 steps.
Right, Left, Stay
Stay, Right, Left
Right, Stay, Left
Stay, Stay, Stay

Example 2:

Input: steps = 2, arrLen = 4
Output: 2
Explanation: There are 2 differents ways to stay at index 0 after 2 steps
Right, Left
Stay, Stay

Example 3:

Input: steps = 4, arrLen = 2
Output: 8

Constraints:

• 1 <= steps <= 500
• 1 <= arrLen <= 10^6

2023-10-16
119. Pascal's Triangle II

Topic: Array, Dynamic Programming
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
Given an integer rowIndex, return the rowIndex^th (0-indexed) row of the Pascal's triangle.

In Pascal's triangle, each number is the sum of the two numbers directly above it as shown:

Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/PascalTriangleAnimated2.gif

Example 1:

Input: rowIndex = 3
Output: [1,3,3,1]

Example 2:

Input: rowIndex = 0
Output: [1]

Example 3:

Input: rowIndex = 1
Output: [1,1]

Constraints:

• 0 <= rowIndex <= 33

Follow up: Could you optimize your algorithm to use only O(rowIndex) extra space?

2023-10-17
1361. Validate Binary Tree Nodes

Topic: Tree, Depth-First Search, Breadth-First Search, Union Find, Graph, Binary Tree
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You have n binary tree nodes numbered from 0 to n - 1 where node i has two children leftChild[i] and rightChild[i], return true if and only if all the given nodes form exactly one valid binary tree.

If node i has no left child then leftChild[i] will equal -1, similarly for the right child.

Note that the nodes have no values and that we only use the node numbers in this problem.

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2019/08/23/1503_ex1.png

Input: n = 4, leftChild = [1,-1,3,-1], rightChild = [2,-1,-1,-1]
Output: true

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2019/08/23/1503_ex2.png

Input: n = 4, leftChild = [1,-1,3,-1], rightChild = [2,3,-1,-1]
Output: false

Example 3:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2019/08/23/1503_ex3.png

Input: n = 2, leftChild = [1,0], rightChild = [-1,-1]
Output: false

Constraints:

• n == leftChild.length == rightChild.length
• 1 <= n <= 10^4
• -1 <= leftChild[i], rightChild[i] <= n - 1

2023-10-18
2050. Parallel Courses III

Topic: Array, Dynamic Programming, Graph, Topological Sort
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given an integer n, which indicates that there are n courses labeled from 1 to n. You are also given a 2D integer array relations where relations[j] = [prevCourse_j, nextCourse_j] denotes that course prevCourse_j has to be completed before course nextCourse_j (prerequisite relationship). Furthermore, you are given a 0-indexed integer array time where time[i] denotes how many months it takes to complete the (i+1)^th course.

You must find the minimum number of months needed to complete all the courses following these rules:

• You may start taking a course at any time if the prerequisites are met.
• Any number of courses can be taken at the same time.

Return the minimum number of months needed to complete all the courses.

Note: The test cases are generated such that it is possible to complete every course (i.e., the graph is a directed acyclic graph).

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/10/07/ex1.png

Input: n = 3, relations = [[1,3],[2,3]], time = [3,2,5]
Output: 8
Explanation: The figure above represents the given graph and the time required to complete each course. 
We start course 1 and course 2 simultaneously at month 0.
Course 1 takes 3 months and course 2 takes 2 months to complete respectively.
Thus, the earliest time we can start course 3 is at month 3, and the total time required is 3 + 5 = 8 months.

Example 2:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/10/07/ex2.png

Input: n = 5, relations = [[1,5],[2,5],[3,5],[3,4],[4,5]], time = [1,2,3,4,5]
Output: 12
Explanation: The figure above represents the given graph and the time required to complete each course.
You can start courses 1, 2, and 3 at month 0.
You can complete them after 1, 2, and 3 months respectively.
Course 4 can be taken only after course 3 is completed, i.e., after 3 months. It is completed after 3 + 4 = 7 months.
Course 5 can be taken only after courses 1, 2, 3, and 4 have been completed, i.e., after max(1,2,3,7) = 7 months.
Thus, the minimum time needed to complete all the courses is 7 + 5 = 12 months.

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 5 * 10^4
• 0 <= relations.length <= min(n * (n - 1) / 2, 5 * 10^4)
• relations[j].length == 2
• 1 <= prevCourse_j, nextCourse_j <= n
• prevCourse_j != nextCourse_j
• All the pairs [prevCourse_j, nextCourse_j] are unique.
• time.length == n
• 1 <= time[i] <= 10^4
• The given graph is a directed acyclic graph.

2023-10-19
844. Backspace String Compare

Topic: Two Pointers, String, Stack, Simulation
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
Given two strings s and t, return true if they are equal when both are typed into empty text editors. '#' means a backspace character.

Note that after backspacing an empty text, the text will continue empty.

Example 1:

Input: s = "ab#c", t = "ad#c"
Output: true
Explanation: Both s and t become "ac".

Example 2:

Input: s = "ab##", t = "c#d#"
Output: true
Explanation: Both s and t become "".

Example 3:

Input: s = "a#c", t = "b"
Output: false
Explanation: s becomes "c" while t becomes "b".

Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length, t.length <= 200
• s and t only contain lowercase letters and '#' characters.

Follow up: Can you solve it in O(n) time and O(1) space?

2023-10-20
341. Flatten Nested List Iterator

Topic: Stack, Tree, Depth-First Search, Design, Queue, Iterator
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
You are given a nested list of integers nestedList. Each element is either an integer or a list whose elements may also be integers or other lists. Implement an iterator to flatten it.

Implement the NestedIterator class:

• NestedIterator(List<NestedInteger> nestedList) Initializes the iterator with the nested list nestedList.
• int next() Returns the next integer in the nested list.
• boolean hasNext() Returns true if there are still some integers in the nested list and false otherwise.

Your code will be tested with the following pseudocode:

initialize iterator with nestedList
res = []
while iterator.hasNext()
    append iterator.next() to the end of res
return res

If res matches the expected flattened list, then your code will be judged as correct.

Example 1:

Input: nestedList = [[1,1],2,[1,1]]
Output: [1,1,2,1,1]
Explanation: By calling next repeatedly until hasNext returns false, the order of elements returned by next should be: [1,1,2,1,1].

Example 2:

Input: nestedList = [1,[4,[6]]]
Output: [1,4,6]
Explanation: By calling next repeatedly until hasNext returns false, the order of elements returned by next should be: [1,4,6].

Constraints:

• 1 <= nestedList.length <= 500
• The values of the integers in the nested list is in the range [-10^6, 10^6].

2023-10-21
1425. Constrained Subsequence Sum

Topic: Array, Dynamic Programming, Queue, Sliding Window, Heap (Priority Queue), Monotonic Queue
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
Given an integer array nums and an integer k, return the maximum sum of a non-empty subsequence of that array such that for every two consecutive integers in the subsequence, nums[i] and nums[j], where i < j, the condition j - i <= k is satisfied.

A subsequence of an array is obtained by deleting some number of elements (can be zero) from the array, leaving the remaining elements in their original order.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [10,2,-10,5,20], k = 2
Output: 37
Explanation: The subsequence is [10, 2, 5, 20].

Example 2:

Input: nums = [-1,-2,-3], k = 1
Output: -1
Explanation: The subsequence must be non-empty, so we choose the largest number.

Example 3:

Input: nums = [10,-2,-10,-5,20], k = 2
Output: 23
Explanation: The subsequence is [10, -2, -5, 20].

Constraints:

• 1 <= k <= nums.length <= 10^5
• -10^4 <= nums[i] <= 10^4

2023-10-22
1793. Maximum Score of a Good Subarray

Topic: Array, Two Pointers, Binary Search, Stack, Monotonic Stack
Difficulty: Hard

Problem:
You are given an array of integers nums (0-indexed) and an integer k.

The score of a subarray (i, j) is defined as min(nums[i], nums[i+1], ..., nums[j]) * (j - i + 1). A good subarray is a subarray where i <= k <= j.

Return the maximum possible score of a good subarray.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,4,3,7,4,5], k = 3
Output: 15
Explanation: The optimal subarray is (1, 5) with a score of min(4,3,7,4,5) * (5-1+1) = 3 * 5 = 15.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [5,5,4,5,4,1,1,1], k = 0
Output: 20
Explanation: The optimal subarray is (0, 4) with a score of min(5,5,4,5,4) * (4-0+1) = 4 * 5 = 20.

Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 10^5
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 2 * 10^4
• 0 <= k < nums.length

2023-10-23
342. Power of Four

Topic: Math, Bit Manipulation, Recursion
Difficulty: Easy

Problem:
Given an integer n, return true if it is a power of four. Otherwise, return false.

An integer n is a power of four, if there exists an integer x such that n == 4^x.

Example 1:

Input: n = 16
Output: true

Example 2:

Input: n = 5
Output: false

Example 3:

Input: n = 1
Output: true

Constraints:

• -2^31 <= n <= 2^31 - 1

Follow up: Could you solve it without loops/recursion?

2023-10-24
515. Find Largest Value in Each Tree Row

Topic: Tree, Depth-First Search, Breadth-First Search, Binary Tree
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given the root of a binary tree, return an array of the largest value in each row of the tree (0-indexed).

Example 1:

Image: https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2020/08/21/largest_e1.jpg

Input: root = [1,3,2,5,3,null,9]
Output: [1,3,9]

Example 2:

Input: root = [1,2,3]
Output: [1,3]

Constraints:

• The number of nodes in the tree will be in the range [0, 10^4].
• -2^31 <= Node.val <= 2^31 - 1

2023-10-25
779. K-th Symbol in Grammar

Topic: Math, Bit Manipulation, Recursion
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
We build a table of n rows (1-indexed). We start by writing 0 in the 1^st row. Now in every subsequent row, we look at the previous row and replace each occurrence of 0 with 01, and each occurrence of 1 with 10.

• For example, for n = 3, the 1^st row is 0, the 2^nd row is 01, and the 3^rd row is 0110.

Given two integer n and k, return the k^th (1-indexed) symbol in the n^th row of a table of n rows.

Example 1:

Input: n = 1, k = 1
Output: 0
Explanation: row 1: 0

Example 2:

Input: n = 2, k = 1
Output: 0
Explanation: 
row 1: 0
row 2: 01

Example 3:

Input: n = 2, k = 2
Output: 1
Explanation: 
row 1: 0
row 2: 01

Constraints:

• 1 <= n <= 30
• 1 <= k <= 2^n - 1

2023-10-26
823. Binary Trees With Factors

Topic: Array, Hash Table, Dynamic Programming, Sorting
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given an array of unique integers, arr, where each integer arr[i] is strictly greater than 1.

We make a binary tree using these integers, and each number may be used for any number of times. Each non-leaf node's value should be equal to the product of the values of its children.

Return the number of binary trees we can make. The answer may be too large so return the answer modulo 10^9 + 7.

Example 1:

Input: arr = [2,4]
Output: 3
Explanation: We can make these trees: [2], [4], [4, 2, 2]

Example 2:

Input: arr = [2,4,5,10]
Output: 7
Explanation: We can make these trees: [2], [4], [5], [10], [4, 2, 2], [10, 2, 5], [10, 5, 2].

Constraints:

• 1 <= arr.length <= 1000
• 2 <= arr[i] <= 10^9
• All the values of arr are unique.

2023-10-27
5. Longest Palindromic Substring

Topic: String, Dynamic Programming
Difficulty: Medium

Problem:
Given a string s, return the longest palindromic substring in s.

Example 1:

Input: s = "babad"
Output: "bab"
Explanation: "aba" is also a valid answer.

Example 2:

Input: s = "cbbd"
Output: "bb"

Constraints:

• 1 <= s.length <= 1000
• s consist of only digits and English letters.