Problem Statement
(Problem Link) Given a singly linked list, return a random node’s value from the linked list. Each node must have the same probability of being chosen.
Follow up:
What if the linked list is extremely large and its length is unknown to you? Could you solve this efficiently without using extra space?
Example:
// Init a singly linked list [1,2,3]. ListNode head = new ListNode(1); head.next = new ListNode(2); head.next.next = new ListNode(3); Solution solution = new Solution(head); // getRandom() should return either 1, 2, or 3 randomly. Each element should have equal probability of returning. solution.getRandom();
Analysis
Reservoir sampling
Reservoir Sampling Sample size 1: Suppose we see a sequence of items, one at a time. We want to keep a single item in memory, and we want it to be selected at random from the sequence. If we know the total number of items (n), then the solution is easy: select an index i between 1 and n with equal probability, and keep the i-th element. The problem is that we do not always know n in advance. A possible solution is the following:
- Keep the first item in memory.
- When the i-th item arrives (for i>1):
- with probability 1/i, keep the new item instead of the current item; or equivalently
- with probability 1-1/i, keep the current item and discard the new item.
So:
* when there is only one item, it is kept with probability 1;
* when there are 2 items, each of them is kept with probability 1/2;
* when there are 3 items, the third item is kept with probability 1/3, and each of the previous 2 items is also kept with probability (1/2)(1-1/3) = (1/2)(2/3) = 1/3;
* by induction, it is easy to prove that when there are n items, each item is kept with probability 1/n.
Solution
# Definition for singly-linked list.
# class ListNode(object):
# def __init__(self, x):
# self.val = x
# self.next = None
class Solution(object):
def __init__(self, head):
"""
@param head The linked list's head.
Note that the head is guaranteed to be not null, so it contains at least one node.
:type head: ListNode
"""
self.head = head
def getRandom(self):
"""
Returns a random node's value.
:rtype: int
"""
from random import randint
p = self.head
res = p.val
i = 2
p = p.next
while p:
if randint(1, i) == 1:
res = p.val
p = p.next
i += 1
return res
# Your Solution object will be instantiated and called as such:
# obj = Solution(head)
# param_1 = obj.getRandom()