2262. Total Appeal of A String (Leetcode Hard)

Larry solves and analyzes this Leetcode problem as both an interviewer and an interviewee. This is a live recording of a real engineer solving a problem live - no cuts or edits!
Problem: leetcode.com/problems/total-a...
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#leetcode #coding #programming

[@Algorithmist]

Did you get the full appeal of this problem?

[@AakuRowdy89]

Haha; I almost got it. Great explanation. Can you please clarify my question below

[@greedycat9845]

amazing and nice explanation

[@Algorithmist]

It had.. a good appeal, haha

[@AyushKumar-rh1vy]

Thanks very good explanation

[@AakuRowdy89]

One thing I am having a hard time grokking is the contribution of the first 'b'. Can you please elaborate what the left("", "a") and right halves("", "b", "bc", "bca") signify?.Aren't we double counting the empty string, i.e., "b" substring?

[@Algorithmist]

No, I think you can work that out..

[@AakuRowdy89]

@@Algorithmist Still elluding me. As you show in your examples of prefix and suffix, I keep thinking about "_" as "_b" and "b_". Please correct my understanding

[@AakuRowdy89]

Finally I get the appeal. For anyone being as daft as me - its multiplication, i.e., I was considering each half as a substring. Larry is trying to tell me that every is always substring == left + char + right

[@riteeshbommaraju]

GAWWWDDD LEVEL SOLUTION !!!!!!

[@siddharthb2226]

THALAIVAAAA