5 Problem Solving Tips for Cracking Coding Interview Questions

[@CSDojo]

Here’s my solution code to this problem in Python and Java: www.csdojo.io/problem Also, for improving your problem-solving skills, as I mentioned in the video, I recommend the following two pieces of resources: - 11 Essential Coding Interview Questions (my Udemy course): www.udemy.com/11-essential-coding-interview-questions/?couponCode=PROBLEM - Daily Coding Problem (a website that’s run by a friend of mine): www.csdojo.io/daily See you guys in the next video!

[@13_cse_fredericimmanuel98]

Hey Cs dojo, your videos are very much different from other online tutors. I loved the python tutorials. I wish you'd make C programming tutorials too. Hoping to hear from you soon.

[@flametrav2891]

witch software do you use for the presentation?

[@cookeemonstahz]

What you can do is replace every element in array A with its conjugate. Then, for every element in array A, you do a binary search in a sorted array B, to find the closest possible number. This will allow you to reach an O(n*logn) solution with only O(1) space.

[@Toopa88]

18:07 check out projecteuler. It has 645 problems that can be solved and once you solve a problem you can see how others solved it. IT IS FREE!

[@thesanto0520]

@@cookeemonstahz it's o(n) space just to store the array.

[@simranray4564]

Besides everything related to coding and thinking, I really like the way that on clicking the dotted box bursts to display what's inside.

[@othmanalyusifey356]

the same thing with me ~،،

[@pl9397]

any idea what tools/apps he is using to show the effects?

[@GAURAVSHARMA-yg1ig]

i hope the same thing happens to me when i start to code

[@animehub38n2]

Poo L idk. He might be the one who made that tool.

[@iiparshii]

😂 😂 😂 😂 yea Simran.. lets just miss every imp. coding info. and lets focus on pop up boxes 😂..

[@MonsieurCHING]

Tip #1: Come up with a brute-force solution - 1:23 Tip #2: Think of a simpler version of the problem - 2:34 Tip #3: Think with simpler examples -> try noticing a pattern - 5:54 Tip #4: Use some visualization - 10:10 Tip #5: Test your solution on a few examples - 15:09

[@algoking]

nice

[@husa1n]

Underated hero, cheers mate

[@neensta]

kitna vella hai be ye

[@modestpelicanprogramming6370]

@@neensta Not gonna lie that was kinda aggressive...

[@Venketu]

Doing God's work

[@SV90527]

To everyone who understood this video, I'm happy for you. I'll get there soon. Update: I'm working as a Software Engineer in Toronto. Keep working hard, one day it'll pay off 👊🏼⚡️

[@firstbay4024]

i dont understand too

[@michellemercy2715]

You got me but we are half way there okay! Haha stay curious!

[@lokeshvijay5609]

I'll be there after you

[@riceball100]

Same will soon get there

[@darkvador8477]

Hopefully

[@neutral1802]

The moment your best solution is the brute-force one. 1:32 This pair, Dis pair, Despair.

[@fevgatoz]

i cried laughing broh

[@maksimbeliaev5339]

Yes, the guy is just noob In first example he has shown a list with negative numbers, so his last method will not work He will just fail an interview

[@ほっしゃん-b8b]

Maksim Beliaev you know that he's an ex-google software engineer right?

[@alejandroestrella69]

And that means what exactly?

[@シウ-o1x]

@@maksimbeliaev5339 You might need to learn your math again. Negative numbers will not impact the method as long as it is sorted properly because it is an addition problem, the trend is still the same. If you can't get through this idea then assume: positive number a, b, target number is t array_1 has minimum of -a array_2 has minimum of -b Add "a" to all the numbers in array_1, and add "b" to all the numbers in array_2. Both arrays will now have minimum of zero instead of negative; the target in this case will become t+a+b. Now everything is non negative again, and the visualized solution path will look identical to original one with negative numbers. To trace back to the original combination just minus "a" or "b" accordingly to the original array_1 and array_2. This is not required when using the method in the video on an array with negatives (you will end up with the same solution path anyway), I'm just putting it this way to show that including negative or not is just a case of superposition and the transition is just simple math.

[@asishbalu2415]

Here's a solution that is also O(nlogn), but faster than the one you provided: Sort array 1 (nlogn). Now, for each value x of array 2, conduct binary search on array 1 to find the element closest to (target -x). This should be nlogn as well. Your solution requires 2 sorts and extra processing, but this one only requires one sort.

[@mohamedkandeel6553]

That's the same solution that jumped into my mind once I read the problem.

[@rpesel]

Exactly my solution

[@OmarChida]

I have solved a problem very darn similar to this earlier today and this was the solution I came up with too

[@konm]

Closest doesn't mean that the sum of the elements will be close to the target. You are right. Nice approach.

[@YongfangZhang]

Nice try.

[@bpc1570]

Just a thought. The question is that if the interviewer has not seen or practiced a given problem, will they still be able to solve and evaluate a candidate? The problem of these kinds of interviews is that the interviewer and candidates are not on equal ground. When the interviewer clearly knows the answer, it becomes somewhat biased when they attempt to judge their candidates (by asking things like, can you think of a better solution to this and so on, notice the keyword "think" not "recall"). I guess my point is that I don't quite believe the interviewer can always improvise a solution to problems such as finding the total number of subsets of integers that add up to a number or a cell automata problem with lots of recursions. I believe they can probably solve it by sitting quietly by themselves and tackling the problem without a time limit or without people watching them, but the question is that can they "think from the scratch" themselves? Do you code under pressure with people watching you and judging you? You don't see this kinds of interview in other industries such as EE, physics, chemical engineering, etc., because there's no way to ask you to design and implement a VLSI chip that functions a certain way or design a quantum mechanical system on the scene. But somehow in CS, this is convenient. Very often you interview for a machine learning position but people only, or to a large extent, focus on trickery coding problems; almost as if statistics and math are not as important; kind of going backwards, imho. Let's have an open research question, so that neither the interviewer nor the candidate has a viable solution at the moment. Then, we both try to solve the problem or come up with a tentative solution, in which case you'll also get to see how the candidate approaches the problem, their patience, their analytical capacities, personalities and so on. But at least, this interview process would be less biased. When people practice a lot of these coding problems and then go ahead to have an interview, they are really just "recalling from memory" on how to solve certain problems but you are not really testing their "analytical abilities."

[@codingrat8323]

This is so true. But, sadly a reality!

[@scarface548]

I like your idea about both interviewer and interviewee do that same problem. That would be awesome.

[@vassilyn5378]

The bias you're [rightly] referring to is irrelevant. You're not competing against the interviewer, you're competing against other candidates. So you shouldn't care how biased your interviewer is to that particular problem 'cause he applies the same bias to all candidates (in theory). Therefore, it doesn't matter. What this does or doesn't test and/or how it correlates with candidate's qualities is another question. But the playground is equally fair (or unfair) for all candidates.

[@scarface548]

@@vassilyn5378 you are right it doesn't really matter how hard or easy the problem is if comparison is only against other candiates.

[@allmighty2000]

You guys are not newbies like me that’s why this things are coming on your head but Those who are sitting in at big companies as an interviewer are as good as ever could be , believe it , And you have to be that good to be a member of that big company

[@KumaranKM]

Solution with log(n): a = [7, 4, 1, 10] b = [4, 5, 8, 7] target =14 count = 0 a.sort() b.sort() j = len(b)-1 i = 0 while(i=0: if a[i] + b[j] < target: i += 1 continue elif a[i] + b[j] > target: j -= 1 continue else: count += 1 print(a[i] + b[j]) j -= 1 else: break print(count) Credits: You are an awesome youtuber. Before watching your video, I don't even know how to solve the problem. But now I could able to give a different solution with less time complexity. It's all because of your tutorial. Thanks for your videos. Now I can able to bring a solution with most of the time logn complexity. Keep doing your work and make more coders around the world!

[@froes89]

this makes no sense

[@tb0nestk]

YK, Thinking out loud. In an interview setting, it would be intimidating to approach a problem, thinking out loud. It takes experience and practice to master the technique. Your explanation is so valuable, learning how to think and what questions to ask. Here’s an idea. Take leetcode site, there are over 700 problems, you solve one problem a day, show how you’d approach the problem, how to think, what questions to ask, how to optimize... I think that’s so valuable. Who knows by the end of the year, you can just gather up all those videos and create another Udemy class, I think lots of people would appreciate that

[@nomadicfathersons]

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[@hertzvador2220]

Good sales pitch. A simple solution: You could associate each value to each bit of an integer (12 bits, 6 MSB is first array, 6 LSB is second array) in total going from 0 to 2^12=4096. Add all the values associated with a 1. This would go through all the combinations at light speed.

[@cachorito01]

These tips are amazing!! The final solution amazed me, I just recently failed an interview for an intership at one of the big 4 and im determined to study at least 2 hours a day for my next one, I hope you make more videos like these!

[@RamizZamanJEEPhysics]

Where did you apply mate ?

[@cachorito01]

@@RamizZamanJEEPhysics I went to a hackathon and left my resume, but you can apply online too, just search the name of the company and careers

[@RamizZamanJEEPhysics]

Thanks mate

[@nomadicfathersons]

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[@b735player]

Another great way to solve this problem: 1. Sort 1 of the arrays O(n*log(n)) 2. Make that sorted array into a balanced binary tree (this is O(n) complex) 3. for each elem in the other array: DFS search binary tree for closest pair 4. DFS method is defined as follows if bTree.root + elem is closer to the target than the current best pair then (bTree.root, elem) becomes the best pair if bTree.root + elem < target && bTree.right.nonEmpty then DFS(right) else if bTree.root + elem > target && bTree.left.nonEmpty then DFS(left) The DFS lookup for the closest pair for a single element takes O(log(n)) time. Repeating for each element in the second array gives us O(n*log(n)) time

[@ImaskarDono]

Exactly. This is much better, because if arrays have different length, you can only sort the small one. And even if they are the same, real world complexity is better.

[@joaovfeijo]

High quality as always, man. Thank you for your good work. I learn a lot with your videos.

[@xzist]

This is brilliant. Thank you so much for this. Easily the most detailed and clearly articulated and digestible, general approach to solving algorithm problems.. While watching youtube videos on algorithms, so many of the people solving them just seemingly grab the solution out of thin air. No doubt this is due to them doing a ton of algorithms in the past, recognizing patterns and reaching for solutions or similar solutions that worked for them in the past. The problem with this for people newer to solving algorithms is as I mentioned - this seems to come out of thin air and doesn't help, because it doesn't show the thought process behind what came up with the original pattern that they're grabbing for.. hope that makes sense and thanks again for the video.

[@allfreetechhub]

Another way: Sort the first array (a1) in ASC order, while sort the other one (a2) in DESC order. start with i1 = 0, i2 = 0 (i1 as index of first array, i2 as index of 2nd array) Check a1[i1] + a2[i2], if it's less than given number, then "i1++"(to pick a larger number), and if it's greater than the given number, then "i2++"(to pick a smaller number). You will get the answer with following complexity: Sorting: O(n*logn), twice Iteration: O(n), twice (worst case)

[@bird6472]

This is the way I did it. Sort both arrays then it becomes a simple 2 pointer pattern problem.

[@BipinOli90]

Just sort both arrays, from one array pick one element at time and using binary search, search for a other half of number in another array. You can write 2 binary search for this, one should return the exact number or the closest number higher than it and second one should return the exact or closest one smaller than it. Actually you only need to sort the one where binary search is being done. Overall complexity is O(nlgn). In the end what you came up with is very similar with this, and visualizing problems and solutions is a very important skill. Anyway, I wrote this, just to show that there are some other ways to think about such problems.

[@maks0bs]

That's actually a very good idea, I haven't thought about, great video)). But why not use binary search in this problem? The complexity would also be O(n log n). You parse through the unsorted array and start binary search on the sorted one to find the closest sum. Roughly speaking, the complexity would be 2 * n * log n, since you only sort one array and use binary search with the other one for n log n. The concept of binary search can be used in a variety of other problems, but I'm not really sure if this can be applicable somewhere else. The idea in the video looks like semi-dynamicProgramming.

[@toantruong9533]

I also come up with this solution.

[@TheLuke1662]

Same! Here is my solution in C++ void closestPair(std::vector& a, std::vector& b, int target) { std::sort(b.begin(), b.end()); int a_index = 0, b_index = 0; int current = a[0] + b[0]; int current_target; for (int i = 0; i < a.size(); i++) { current_target = target - a[i]; auto lower = std::lower_bound(b.begin(), b.end(), current_target) - b.begin(); int temp = b[lower]; if (lower != 0){ if (std::abs(b[lower] - current_target) > std::abs(current_target - b[lower - 1])) { temp = b[lower-1]; lower--; } } if (std::abs(current - target) > std::abs(temp - current_target)) { current = temp + a[i]; a_index = i; b_index = lower; } } std::cout

[@rafagamaxima]

And what about the complexity of sorting the array?

[@ПетяТабуреткин-в7т]

That's what I came up with as well. But it will probably be slower, because performing the second `O(n log(n))` operation will eventually be slower than a `O(n)`. But it's still `O(n log(n))`, so maybe it's not that bad.

[@MishaAmashukeli]

Yeah it will work, but it will be a bit more code, and slower.

[@hilbertcontainer3034]

Thanks CS Dojo. I am going to have my first ever coding interview in an hour! (Out of confidence) x.x This is the last tech video i am going to see! So thanks for the tips For reference, My first approach with brute force would be Arr_1 = [-1,3,8,2,9,5] Arr_2 = [4,1,2,10,5,20] Target = 24 #For each integer in Arr_1, calculate the difference from 24. And find the closest int in Arr_2. Arr_1 [0] =-1, 24-(-1) = 25, the closet one to 25, is 20 in Arr_2, Ie. [-1,20] = 19 Arr_1 [1] =3, 24-3 = 21, the closest one to 21, is 20 in Arr_2, i.e. [3,20] = 23 Arr_1 [2] =8, 24-8 = 16, the closest one to 16, is 20 in Arr_2, i.e. [8,20] = 28 Arr_1 [3] =2, 24-2 = 22, the closest one to 22, is 20 in Arr_2, i.e. [2,20] = 22 Arr_1 [4] =9, 24-9 = 15, the closest one to 15 is 10 or 20 in Arr_2, i.e. [9, 10] and [9,20] = 19, 29 Arr_1 [5] = 5, 24-5 = 19, the closest one to 19, is 20 in Arr_2, i.e. [5,20] =25 We got another array to store above pairs and results, and replace the pairs if the new result is closer answer to the target. Navigate the result. 23 and 25 are closest to 24. I.e. [3,20] and [5,20]

[@Seawolf159]

Great buildup from vague idea of how to do it, to coming up with a way to traverse that grid. Really cool.

[@meph5291]

This can be done in O(n) time. Go over first list, create a new list with required numbers to reach target, go over second list and compute Math.abs() to determine how close you are to target. If you are closer than previous one, mark this tuple in a list. After iterration of second list you know exactly how close you can get with how many tuples. No need to sort, if you sort you get in to n*logn order. Only problem in this solution is you need O(n) memory.

[@firstbay4024]

he didnt explain very well...

[@firstbay4024]

yours is better

[@haroldwran775]

The most awesome explanation I have ever heard! Thank you, Dojo

[@remedyforinsomnia]

As someone very far from tech, I found this both easy to follow and inspiring. Grrrrreat. Thank you so much!

[@andreastischler3447]

Regarding your last solution: if there are two equal numbers in one of the arrays you start with then I think this approach could lead to a problem. In your grid-like visualization there would be a line (or row) where there are two equal numbers next to each other. Now say your target number is 17 and you hit a spot where there are two 16 next to each other you could ignore the second 16 that sits to the right of the one you are checking - so i think when you ignore the space next to the number you were checking you have to first check if the neighbouring numbers are really smaller or am I missing something here.

[@SaifUlIslam-db1nu]

An iterative solution ( naive / brute force algorithm ) I made before moving on from 1:22 : #include #include #include // I know it's bad practice, but using it just to write code quicker using namespace std; int main(void) { int Target; // As '24' is here int N; // Size for both A and B array std::cin >> N >> Target; std::vector A(N, 0), B(N, 0); for ( int i = 0; i < N ; ++i ) std::cin >> A[i]; for ( int i = 0 ; i < N ; ++i ) std::cin >> B[i]; vector vect; vector temp(N * N); int Bind = 0, min = Target + 1; for ( int i = 0; i < N ; ++i ) { for ( int j = 0 ; j < N ; ++j ) { temp.push_back(Target - ( A.at(i) + B.at(j) ) ); if ( temp[ i * N + j ] < min ) { min = temp[i * N + j]; Bind = j; } vect.push_back(std::make_pair(i, Bind)); } } for ( const auto & x : vect ) cout

[@StRanGerManY]

Tip#2 It won't be O(n), since for each number in first array, we calculate the reminder and look at each number in the second array. Thus, it is same O(n^2) as the brute force solution. Actually, its quite a bit worse, since we actually have x * O(n^2) As for the final solution, vizualization is nice and all, but it is actually quite a bit easy to solve this without it. Just sort both arrays, one from small to big, and the other array - the other way around. Start from 0 on both of the sum, if sum is bigger then searched number, get next value on the second array. Otherwise, get value from the first array. Remember the sum at each step, and print the closest pair. Boom, problem solved. O(n*log(n))

[@vickyanand5898]

No it will be nlogn since its searching in a set .

[@ALLCAPS]

You're correct. Tip #2 when he said it would be O(n), I immediately thought: ..............what?

[@tijikthomas]

Searching in a set takes O(1) time

[@harshpalsingh1746]

After creating the table, better way to find the closest no is binary search in my opinion. Because in your examples the closest no was always somewhere in the middle, but what if it is the last box, binary search will do wonders in this case.

[@naserdakhel5051]

I really really enjoy your videos, problem solving the most, i hope your channel covers more about problem solving and competitive programming

[@nomadicfathersons]

If you like Html & css webdesigning kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZDKpquCdtR_j7s kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqLVi6WslrSVkM0 Support & comment on my video

[@SpeedTutorialz]

Please correct me if I'm wrong (as I want to know why I'm wrong), but so far I've gotten to 4:04 in the video. You're looping through the bottom array, and at each element, say 4, you check if 20 is found within the set, but to check a set you need to loop through the values (yes there might be a helper function "find element in set"), but internally that's still a loop, no? and a loop in a loop is still O(n^2).

[@winterrcore]

I thought the same thing, it's basically just like the first method (brute forcing) but with a set as the first array

[@adityashankarpal5934]

For your second approach, you will require O(nlogn) . Suppose you have two arrays A and B with n elements and for each element in B you perform binary search O(logn) searching for the other number of pair in A. For n elements in B, the complexity would be O(nlogn)

[@dizzydeveloper]

Actullauy, i was looking comments to see if someone has mentioned this.e second approach will not take O(n) time, it will take more time.

[@vedantsharma5876]

But we can't use binary search since the two arrays are unsorted. So the second approach also would yield O(n^2) time complexity(Please correct me if wrong)

[@rickvstange]

@@vedantsharma5876 You can first sort both arrays in O(nlogn), then do the binary seach for each element in B, which would be also O(nlog), since each binary seach takes O(logn). So, in the end, it should be O(nlogn). If the arrays were already sorted, doing the algorithm from the video would only take O(n), while binary seach for each element in B would still take O(nlogn).

[@vedantsharma5876]

@@rickvstange oh yes. Thanks Ricardo!

[@palashpotnurwar2310]

@@Sycu yaa right...

[@konstantinavdeev6460]

A very nice explanation of the thinking process. But another trait of a good programmer is knowing his data structures. Java, for example, has TreeSet with an O(logn) time complexity for ceiling/floor methods. And that would come straight from your "simpler version of the problem". So, for those of us not so bright as to come up with the original solution, it's worth to learn the proper tools our languages provide.

[@4fecta353]

You could have solved the problem with the second method in O(nlogn) time if you used a BBST, and binary search for floor and ceiling values. Since we don't actually need the index of the values, we can use a TreeSet in Java (red-black tree) to implement this idea without it being too bulky. This saves from all the ArrayList sorting shenanigans.

[@nomadicfathersons]

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[@hil449]

that uses extra space tho, but with 2 pointers you can solve it with constant space

[@adrienbrunelat2438]

Since you're sorting both arrays, that means your solution won't go below O(n log(n)), so are those advanced optimizations really necessary in comparison to just do numbers from one array 1 by 1 and move on to the next index when you've reached the target? Since that would be O(n log(n)) too. Even if you find a O(n) solution, you're capped at n log(n) because of sorting. The solution is interesting though and would kill if the exercise were giving you a sorted array initially, nice find. The process and its explanation is also great.

[@nutsilog]

This just made me realize how stupid I am 😂😂

[@rsmlifestyle3436]

Hey, your not stupid. These are things that are new to you. Your more than capable of learning this. Just break it down, bit by bit. Be able to teach yourself in way that makes sense to you.

[@ahmedkarem2718]

Yes you are (if you compare yourself with someone that have more practice and experience but if you practice, this will be easy for you good luck.)

[@CarlosFernandez-js8yn]

xxGodx ur harsh...be more positive

[@PraveenKumar-id4pg]

@@rsmlifestyle3436 thanks bro

[@davidkuda7074]

@@rsmlifestyle3436 wow, that's one of the most positive things that I've read online. Thanks for spreading this positivity! Invaluable!

[@damondsh]

Amazing work man. I'm truly appreciative of your work!

[@themg6226]

hello , i have a question please, in the seconde solution , is it nesseecairy to convert the first liste to a set ?

[@stunseed8385]

I think you can also achieve a nlogn by sorting, and do a modified binary search for the exact or the closest value.

[@franciscov511]

yes, oh maybe you can sort the two arrays, mix them and perform binary search

[@JCho-pi5jz]

This is very elementary, but I like how you go through each level of complexity. From brute-force to optimal, it's really giving me an idea of how to do an interview well. people say it and we know it's a thing but i have a bad habit of skipping the simplest way. but i see how the simpliest way can look good. I've never seen someone do an interview so... *shrug* idk wI don't know it looks like

[@Ready2eddie]

Love watching these even if this isnt my major.

[@PerfectorZY]

Eddie Cho come to the computer science side, let the algorithms flow through you

[@nomadicfathersons]

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[@depression_plusplus6120]

So funny isn't it. Right 2 years from now. I left a comment here from some of my other accounts saying DP is so hard and maybe coding isn't for me😢. Now when I'm back here. 2years of wholesome practice and grinds on CF CC LC, I'm just getting each and every word he's saying like ABCD...Heck, I'm even getting better ideas than what he's conveying here. If you're demotivated. Just don't. Keep practicing. I, personally, am not very bright, academically. I take hours, days to digest easy basic concepts and that's alright. As long as you get it at the end, it's a win win for you. Keep grinding. Keep hustling. Don't cry. Don't despair. We ain't the same. Some take minutes to understand segment trees, while people like myself took whole month to even get the idea of its working and the logic behind its creation and its usage in problems. Just keep hustling. I know you'll get there BTW, did I tell you, I ain't a CS major. I'm studying Physics. Which I hate with all my passion. Maybe you might consider reading the only comment, which is mine btw, on this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH6zgZKDprhjjaM

[@aznthanh23]

Thank you for clear and concise explanation with visuals. Keep up the good work

[@nomadicfathersons]

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[@ProHero888]

Hi professor, I am now one of your followers, because Amin Raghib recommended your channel in one of his live videos, Good luck from Morocco 🇲🇦 👏

[@will2see]

3:57 - "This solution O(n)" - Are you sure about that???

[@wahahahawaha]

I have the same doubt (while I am in an interview)..... The number in set is O(n) , I feel it should still be O(n^2), θ(n) maybe? since the number in set is θ(1)

[@manalibiswas6482]

If u hash the numbers of first array, then it will be o(n). If u put it in a set, have to use something like lower_bound() instead and additional checks,.. hashing would ensure o(n).

[@keunwooOOO]

Finding an element in a set is O(log n) so the overall complexity should be O(n log n).

[@Hack_Neuron_To_DSA]

Wrong explaination its nlogn

[@lazandrei_19]

According to stack overflow, ad, remove and contains on a hashset can be done in O(1). So it's O(n) to add them, O(n) to search the other array => O(2n) = O(n)

[@sanchousf]

For the second algorithm (with a set) the complexity will be O(x*n*log(n)). First, you need to fill the set. Inserting an element in a set is O(log(n)), inserting (n) elements in a set is O(n*log(n)). Second, Because you iterate through the array (O(n)) and you search in a set (O(log(n))) for each element in the array (which gives us O(n*log(n))). And you do it (x) times. PS: On the other hand if you use hash table for the set search for an element should be O(1) (if there is no hash collisions). So, probably be yes. It could be O(x*n).

[@user-hh2is9kg9j]

I could do that if I have 3 hours and preferably without someone in a suit staring at me while I am doing it.

[@jaredbaum]

My solution to this would be to sort just 1 of the arrays. Then for each node of the 2nd array do a binary search into the first array of the 'compliment' (aka the number that would directly equal the target). This should get the closest to that. From there you just keep track of the minimum absolute value of the different from the target. This is also an O(nlgn) solution.

[@rui3692]

it’s useful when you practice solving algorithm questions, but I doubt how much time you have to go though this kind of thinking process in actual interviews, especially considering that interviewers usually have prepared two questions to ask. So practice is still the key. Don’t ever try to rely on the introduced techs to hack an interview

[@maria-wu7us]

This is not true for interviews I have conducted. I would rather get a candidate who thinks through a problem and reaches even a brute force solution to something they have never seen before. Sometimes you can tell that a person has practiced the question and simply memorized a solution. Gaps will start to show when you ask questions on basic concepts on their target language that are not related to solving problems. Practice is important but most professionals don't have the time to sit and run thorough programming problems in their free time. But you will have amassed many skills just from working full time and will feel more conformable showing up to interviews without doing the overnight cram sessions I used to do in college. And yes, there will be times when you can't answer the question. I have been there multiple times (in fact, with problems similar to the one in the video). And that's okay, that just means you're not a right fit for the job. I also don't want to reach a position in which I realize later on that I don't have the technical knowledge to contribute well. It doesn't feel good.

[@AlbertKamu]

Why space complexity for final solution is O(n) though? You use no extra space (considering you return only one pair) so it should be constant. Disregard of that, that was really great explanation. One thing I miss most from youtubers about programming questions - is the way of thinking, not just plain solution. Good job mate, keep up the good work!

[@tongjintao]

Ya, why space complexity is O(n)? I don't understand this bit.

[@meryamle6270]

I'm not even into coding but I just like you 😘

[@neilmolina]

One of the critical information needed here to proceed in addressing the problem that is missing, is what is the qualification criteria to determine what is close to the target.

[@jukebox1209]

Another great video - helpful and practical! （久しぶり！)

[@MrAmoslemi]

you made a simple problem very difficult! Your brute-force approach was the best for coding!

[@achanoch]

You are brilliant. Thanks for the knowledge sharing and innovating problem solving skills

[@himanshuchhikara4918]

Best video i have ever seen .. pls continue making videos like this

[@bris.e]

This amazing video steps got me a new amazing job. You are great! Thank you for the awesome content you are generating!

[@nomadicfathersons]

If you like Html & css webdesigning kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZDKpquCdtR_j7s kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqLVi6WslrSVkM0 Support & comment on my video

[@alexander_andrush]

Nice idea, but I think in this case the visualization makes the problem a bit more complex than it is. I came up with simple short solution (C++) with runtime complexity O(n log(n)) and space complexity O(n). In my solution arrays can have different sizes. pair sumUpToTarget( vector &v1, vector &v2, int target) { if ((v1.size() < 1) || (v2.size() < 1)) return {}; set s(v2.begin(), v2.end()); pair p = { {*v1.begin(), *s.begin()}, std::abs(target - (*v1.begin() + *s.begin())) }; for (auto elm : v1) { auto pos = s.lower_bound(target - elm); if (pos == s.end()) pos = prev(s.end()); if (abs(target - (elm + *pos)) < p.second) p = { {elm, *pos}, abs(target - (elm + *pos)) }; } return p.first; }

[@axelcarvalho2661]

The set solution is O(n) and array sorting is already O(n*logn), so how is it better?

[@maxintos1]

The basic set solution only works on the simplified problem where we're looking for exactly the value. When we're solving the real problem the set solution is O(x*n) which might end up being way bigger than O(nLog(n)). For example with simple 1 element lists {500}{400} and target sum of 10, the set algorithm would take almost 900 cycles to calculate the answer.

[@vleipnik]

@@maxintos1 Yes, you are correct .

[@sanchousf]

No, it's not. Because complexity for the set solution is actually O(x*n*log(n)). Plus, filling of a set is O(n*log(n)).

[@Mrwiseguy101690]

@@sanchousf That's not true. Using a hash table backed set is O(1) insertion.

[@Mrwiseguy101690]

The time complexity is O(x*n), but x can be arbitrarily large. In the third solution, it really depends on the sorting algorithm used. If you use mergesort or heapsort, it'll definitely be O(nlogn) but space will also be O(n). If you use quicksort, worst case is O(n^2), but space is O(1). In my opinion, you can't objectively say which solution is better without having an idea of what x would tend to be. For small x, the second solution is better. For larger x, the third solution is better.

[@helmholtzwatson8884]

Great video, thank you. I wrote my own version before looking at your code and found we wrote very different functions. The biggest difference is that I made it print out every matching pair and their sum, as opposed to your code which exits when a match is found and prints a single pair. Obviously, what you implemented is massively faster. If you happen to read this, I would really appreciate any feedback you may have on my code (below), in particular if there are ways I might make it more efficient while still accomplishing the same output. def closestMatch (list1, list2, target): answers = [] list1.sort() list2.sort() # start at the end of list1 (max) index1 = len(list1) - 1 # start at the beginning of list2 (min) index2 = 0 # while still within bounds of both lists while index1 >= 0 and index2 < len(list2): value = list1[index1] + list2[index2] # add answer to list: proximity to target, list1 operand, list2 operand, sum answers.append([abs(target - value), list1[index1], list2[index2], value]) if value > target: # try the next (lower) value from list1 index1 -= 1 elif value < target: # try the next (higher) value from list2 index2 += 1 else: # if value matches target # work diagonally through the matrix index1 -= 1 index2 += 1 # sort answers by proximity to target answers.sort() for answer in answers: # if the value is as close to the target as # the first (closest) value, then print it if answer[0] == answers[0][0]: print(f"{answer[1]} + {answer[2]} = {answer[3]}") else: break

[@marcoangelo]

I was struggling to find something like this, thank you

[@nomadicfathersons]

If you like Html & css webdesigning kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZDKpquCdtR_j7s kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqLVi6WslrSVkM0 plz subscribe & comment on my video

[@nikhilgoyal007]

sort both lists in n log(n)) time each. start by adding smallest of first list to largest of the second list. if resultant sum is smaller than the target number move index on the first list up by 1 (otherwise decrease index of second list by 1). go until you find the target number or cross it over (if the target number is not there). this is going to take simply O(n) time (just traversing the list). so adding together get n log(n). (via binary search you can also cut step 3 traversal to log(n) instead of simple traversal in O(n) time but we spent n log (n) upfront for the sort so does not really help)

[@WhiteGhost13]

This was on my algorithms exam last semester 😱😱 and we had to prove that ours was most optimal

[@miikkum]

Not sure if I missed something, but I have a couple questions; 1. I'm assuming numbers are unique in each array? Repeating numbers would make the search O(n^2) in the worst case, as the path to search for "best pair" diverges when you have two or more of the same number repeating in one input array. 2. Returning a set of pairs would be fine, if all numbers are unique. But what if you hit the target in the search? Do you do this check first, i.e. the HashSet? Or do you maybe 'jump' diagonally in the matrix as you know values to the left and down are less/greater than your target? A bit unclear..

[@djBC10000]

Good luck coming up with these insights first time during a real interview rofl.

[@zubich]

just had this on my interview... of course I only came up with brute force solution. :)

[@maxintos1]

You don't really need those exact insights to solve the problem, it's just that visualization can help. He was basically brute force getting the insights. You could have just as easily found the answer by just thinking how if you sort the data you could eliminate a lot of checks, because if you know that array1[i] + array2[j] > target then there is no point checking the value of array1[i] + array2[j+1]. When you sort the data and look at it {1, 4, 7, 10} {4, 5, 7, 8} with target 13 you could notice that 10 + 4 is bigger than 13 so there is no point checking any other number with 10 so we move to 7. 7+4 is less so move forward. 7+5 less so keep going. 7+7 >13 so no point going forward. Move to 4 and etc until you need to move left or right, but there are no more elements. Then just return the answer you hopefully kept track of during the looping.

[@johnsimon8457]

If you were given two arrays of 1000 where O(n^2) is crap it MIGHT push you in the spatial solution direction but good luck implementing that on a whiteboard lol on hour three of an interview loop

[@ChamplooMusashi]

Do some of the problems and get through a few interviews and you'll be able to find it. This problem really isn't so complex.

[@LordLoldemort7]

@@zubich did u get the job lol

[@tarekghosn3648]

Your the man.please dont stop

[@chillaxdude5741]

We miss u here at Google!

[@chillaxdude5741]

@@ankitsuthar3025 yes

[@chillaxdude5741]

@@srt-fw8nh well, i wont say it is enough but its very important.. also try to work on your problem solving ability.😀

[@brendapanda244]

How is the Google office people say its cool

[@chillaxdude5741]

@@brendapanda244 it is amazingly cool..I love it.. at least u do not get bored!😀😀

[@alexfaucheux6138]

Do the coding interviews reflect what you will use in a job?

[@anmolswarnkar7707]

I was able to think of the optimal solution but that's only because I already know about two pointer approach. The way you came up with the optimal solution incrementally from the brute force was very interesting!

[@hadimasri420]

I love you bro u changed my life

[@JCho-pi5jz]

Thank you! The udemy videos are perfect. It's the only udemy course I actually used.... sadly, such ambition, yet no follow-through. I have a very important interview coming and I feel nervous bc I'm competing with people who were formally trained in CS. I just learned everything on the fly with no structure. I didn't even know there were algorithm types or what a binary search was. I would do them all the time bc I have a physics background so I understand optimation but I never learned the names. After seeing the different types of algorithms I feel like I'm starting with some sort of foundational idea of how to do it. I thought binary search meant you put a ) if it's not what you were looking for and a 1 if it was. lol

[@AndreyZhidenkov]

The process of sorting arrays requires time ans space as well.

[@herzfeld2]

he states at the end the time complexity is O(nlogn) and space complexity O(n) "assuming that you use an nlogn sorting algorithm" i.e. mergesort or quicksort or te like. mergesort is of time complex O(nlogn) and space O(n) thus we can assume he is accounting for this correctly.

[@himanshusankhala8633]

Code in python bro

[@christianlarsen7048]

I came up with this solution: sort array2. Then go through array1. In each iteration use binary search to find the number in array2 which is closest to the difference between the number you are currently at in array1 and the target number. Keep track which number in array1 gets the best pair. O(n•lg(n))

[@dudekulavidyasagar3745]

U are the one who inspired me to learn programming ❤ Thanks bro 👍

[@joebashour]

Helpful and insightful video (just like all your other vids). My 2¢ below: Some constraints on the input could have been helpful. For instance, here you assumed that each of the inputs contained distinct elements. Your last approach (labeled "visualization") could have easily ignored duplicate pairs if that constraint was not given with the problem description.

[@tharindueranga6407]

Your tip 2 is also requires to iterate through a Set. Doesn't that make it the same complexity as tip 1?

[@akanbiayomide8214]

No with tip 2 he only iterates through the list. So he takes the first element of the list and sees what sum makes 24. Let’s call that number x. So x+ first element= 24. U can use set properties to search if x exists in the set. And if it does u have found the answer. Which is O(n) Bc u iterate through each element to see if there is a x that makes this true. . Hope this makes sense.

[@vaibhavpareek6112]

You are genuinely good. Your explanation is pretty nice for a person with a low DS experience like me 👍

[@dellebabu5705]

5:30 think every language dont have function to check particular element is there in the list or not . In c it is not there so u have to compare against each element. its o(n2) . 8:45 if sort first then u have to consider the sort complexity o(n2) or log n

[@artur8129]

right, he is not a programmer at all, checking in the set also takes n actions but he talks about it as if it was nothing. He said other silly things, too. If I am wrong, explain to me, I'll accept it.

[@hestiaverof]

ArtCool Live it’s because the set is a hash table, so lookups are constant O(1).

[@artur8129]

If it's hash table, you still have to go over every item which makes it O(n)

[@khanhdd85]

Hi, it's very interesting problem and your approach is to use branch & bound technique. However I find it's not easy to prove the running time is bounded by n*logn. From my opinion, when you have a Set, don't use HashSet but TreeSet then you can search for the closet key in log(n) and you can simply keep track the distance with the target. Thanks

[@hoixthegreat8359]

Genius. In Python you could do this with OrderedDict and bisect.

[@olawalekazeem5820]

Love your videos man 💪 you made me fall in love with Python 😂 I'm learning how to code it now 💪

[@ChrisOkw]

how's it going so far?

[@spaghetti185]

Your solution to that question was beautiful!❤️

[@LuongPham-jq2px]

What is the tool you used for creating this video YK? I think it is amazing for teaching by this way.

[@smirkedShoe]

Yes. It's good. Looking for the same

[@philcooper2408]

He's a coder, maybe he wrote it himself

[@gracewood6768]

@@philcooper2408 :o woa

[@juanperusquia7456]

I came up with this solution: We have two arrays A, B 1) Sort array A, timeComplexity O(nlogn) 2) For each element in B we are going to search in the array A: Goal - Bi. But using BinarySearch LowerBound, why lower bound? Well if the number (Goal-Bi) exist in A the problem will be as he described using the set. If that number does not exist, the lower bound will give us the left number nearest to (Goal - Bi) also, we need to check the number infront of that index because the sum pair can get closer from the left or from the right. With this we are obtaining the two number that are closer to (Goal-Bi) from the left and from the right. If we want to have the pairs that are nearest the Goal. We can have in this process a variable that stores the minimum difference archived to get to the Goal Value, if we find a lower difference we forget the last pairs saved and store the new ones having that minimum difference. The process mentioned above will run in O(nlogn) because for each element in B we are using a binary search in A. Finally: TimeComplexity O(nlogn)

[@archmad]

not sure if i get #2 - create a set, yet the set is still a list which you need to compare it with individually which is still n^2, did i misunderstood a set?

[@superoven]

A "set" in this case being like a python set. Checking if a specific number in it exists or not is just O(1) after you've made the set

[@kmar5264]

The cost of looking up any value for a 'set' data structure is O(1) time. You would just ask the set if it contains a specific number(ex: set.contains(5) ), versus iterating through the values in the set.

[@raidrelm]

Here is the solution I came up with with pyhton: def sum(x,number): start = 0 end = len(x) - 1 base = x[start] + x[end] while start < end and end > start: if base == number: print (str(x[start]) + " and " + str(x[end]) + " adds up to " + str(number) ) return True elif base > number: end -= 1 base = x[start] + x[end] elif base < number: start += 1 base = x[start] + x[end] else: print ("No pair in these set of numbers add up to "+ str(number) ) return False

[@sergiusava9151]

Brute force solution be like: dispair, dispair, dispair. Very useful tips! Thank you!

[@nomadicfathersons]

If you like Html & css webdesigning kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWfKhneoiNCFh6c kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqLVi6WslrSVkM0 Support & comment on my video

[@loam]

Wouldn't that last solution be slow, if it requires sorting of those arrays in the first place? Or, am I right with the following: Sorting would take (depending of what algorithm is used): For the first array - O(n log n) For the second array - O (n log n) O (n log n) plus O (n log n) is still O (n log n) Then we do that algorithm, which also takes O (n log n) in time complexity; -> O (n log n) plus O (n log n) - again, after all steps, we get O (n log n) time complexity?

[@rajendrabera8607]

Alternate approach: Input: array A, B; int sum 1. Sort array B 2. For every element of array A binary search closest element (sum - A[i]) in array B

[@limingxu8648]

That was what I thought of immediately, but on second thought, his solution might be better. For just one solution both solutions would have a time complexity of n*log n, and binary search might actually be faster since sorting requires a lot of memory write. But if you need to use the same two arrays to find multiple targets his solution would have an amortized complexity of n. Not to mention it looks much more elegant.

[@OtakuSanel]

for step 2 you don't need to go through all values of a, only until the point a perfect match is found at which point you can terminate early

[@jonathanguerreroperez9304]

Doesn’t work, you need also sort array B, and you can’t do binary search because you have two pointers.

[@BharCode09]

Once the matrix is sorted, we can do binary search of 2D array similar to 1d array binary search of an element and reduce the complexity to nlogn.

[@guccibane3422]

I’m prepping for a big interview at one of the big 4 companies (or 5 if counting Microsoft) Thank you for this video!

[@MattZelda]

How'd it go?

[@resolviendomates5433]

Really good explanation!! Cheers!!

[@anibalasubramaniam4153]

You just wrote a DDA 👍👏

[@sriharshacv7760]

what is a dda

[@breakintotech5410]

Some seriously strong coding technique

[@trungnguyen5947]

5:44 - till the end - the most important part

[@julesthecat.]

Great explainations! Thank you so much for sharing! 🥰

[@amirabbas434]

Hi... Good video. Like always

[@Shubham_Singh_India]

thumbs up...want more videos on problem solving techniques. And congratulations to you man, my friends liked your channel too after I suggested them.

[@SYBIOTE]

This feels like minesweeper Edit :now I'm majoring in cs

[@BharCode09]

@5:30 The x will be equal to target Sum there. Worst case we may end up reducing the target sum until it becomes 0, incase all the elements in both arrays are 0.

[@jesse578]

The problem usually for me is not coming up with the solution, but actually coding the solution after coming up with it, because I suck at coding.

[@yogeshdeveloper5346]

4:00 Can we do this: 1) Sort the arrays in the descending order 2) Check the initial no.s for pairing (till 2, 3 or so numbers), let say a1 = [9, 8, 5, 3, 2, -1] a2 = [20, 10, 5, 4, 2, 1] We will now check the sum of pairs of numbers initially, For eg: (9, 20)=29 (which is >24) and so on until we get a much smaller or larger number like 22 or 26. If any pair matches, we list it. *Is it good? Please help me!!!*

[@vladimirpotrosky7855]

This might work for the given example, but I don't think it generalizes well. Also worth noting: solutions for these types of problems involving sorting TEND to be sub-optimal. Comparison sorts take at least O(n log n) time, and usually use additional space as well.

[@nomadicfathersons]

If you like Html & css webdesigning kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWfKhneoiNCFh6c kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqLVi6WslrSVkM0 Support & comment on my video

[@sarkarasm285]

Can't we sort only one of the arrays and then perform binary search on the array for each element of the other array. Time complexity still remains o(nlogn).

[@anouar-fadili]

greedy thinking! it's my solution too.

[@elinorkent7188]

i always go back to this video before i have an interview

[@Jj-or5ix]

Can you please explain the “O”

[@samuelelliott4508]

It refers to the complexity of the operation. That is, in terms of the size of the input how much effort or memory would it take to run. For example, the first naive solution of comparing every pair of values from each array had a time complexity of O(n^2). In this case, for input arrays of size n, there are n^2 possible pairs of values that take one number from each array. For each possible pair, we would need to calculate the sum of the pair, and compare that value to the target. This matters because it means that as the size of the input arrays grows, the number of pairs, and so the number of operations we must perform grows faster than n. Imagine comparing two arrays of size 4, like in the video; even a brute force solution would only require us to calculate 16 pairs, not too bad. Instead imagine that the arrays had 20,000 elements each. Now our brute force solution requires us to calculate 400,000,000 pairs, and it will only get worse as the input arrays get larger. To try to sum it up, the complexity of an algorithm refers to how the amount of work required to run the algorithm scales with the size of the input. Time complexity generally refers to the number of distinct operations we must perform. Space complexity generally refers to the amount of memory needed to store information. For example, if the final solution in the video, the matrix used to visualize the problem was of size n by n, and had n^2 cells. So if we tried to compute and store the value of every cell, the time complexity would be O(n^2) (number of pairs we have to check) and the space complexity would also be O(n^2) (we need a matrix with n^2 cells). This means that in the implementation of this algorithm, it would be important that we not actually create such a matrix, but instead find a different way to store any information we need, and only compute the values in the cells we check starting from the top right. There is more to it, specifically that there are actually two notations here "O" (big-O notation) and "o" (little-o notation). Both of these notations deal with the upper bound, or worst-case scenario of the problem. Big-O notation is what people generally focus on, and so it if someone says just "O" or "O notation" they usually mean big-O. (There are also Omega notations that deal with the lower bound, but that usually isn't as important) If you are curious, this page will probably be more thorough than I was here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_complexity

[@Jj-or5ix]

Samuel Elliott wow thanks, now I understand

[@rhakka]

In case anybody else reads this in the future, the easy way to think about it is: for 2 arrays of 5 elements each, brute force = 5**2, final solution is (5 * log(5)) * 3 (2 sorts, then the final search), where the brute force comes out to 25 and the final solution comes out to 24.1416, which is pretty close, right? Then if you look at 2 arrays of length 1000, you'd have 1000**2, which is 1,000,000, while the final solution would be (1000 * log(1000)) * 3, which is 6907.7553, far less than a million. It only gets worse from there. ;)

[@neilsamuel5268]

The most efficient way I could think off of is to pick the first number 'A1' ( and so onn...) from first set an then check the first number of the second set 'B1' and if the sum is greater than required then all the numbers in set B that are bigger than B1 can be skipped because the difference is only gonna get bigger... apply the same to all the smaller sum and that should be pretty efficient...