NYUer | LeetCode977 Squares of a Sorted Array

LeetCode977 Squares of a Sorted Array

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Author: Stefan Su
Create time: 2022-10-26 21:52:25
Location: New York City, NY, USA

Description Easy

Given an integer array nums sorted in non-decreasing order, return an array of the squares of each number sorted in non-decreasing order.

Example 1

Input: nums = [-4,-1,0,3,10]
Output: [0,1,9,16,100]
Explanation: After squaring, the array becomes [16,1,0,9,100].
After sorting, it becomes [0,1,9,16,100].

Example 2

Input: nums = [-7,-3,2,3,11]
Output: [4,9,9,49,121]

Constrains

• 1 <= nums.length <= 10^4
• -10^4 <= nums[i] <= 10^4
• nums is sorted in non-decreasing order.

Analysis

1. Brute force
   • We can square each element in the original array and then sort this array using python built-in function sorted().
2. Two indices, without definition of the length of new_nums list
   • There is total two indices, one from the front and another from the last. Compare the value of square in each index position. The larger one will be insert into the beginning of new_nums list. If size of this new_nums list is not defined, then the operation new_nums = [nums[j] ** 2] + new_nums costs lots of computation time. But still, acceptable.
3. Two indices, with definition of the length of new_nums list
   • Almost same as last solution but define the size of new_nums list and initialize it at the very beginning. The advantage of this operation is that we can reduce running time largely just by replacing the corresponding number at wanted index.

Solution

• Version 1: Brute force

class Solution(object):
    def sortedSquares(self, nums):
        """
        :type nums: List[int]
        :rtype: List[int]
        """
        # brute force
        for i in range(len(nums)):
            nums[i] = nums[i] ** 2
        return sorted(nums)

• Version 2: Two indices, without definition of the length of new_nums list

class Solution(object):
    def sortedSquares(self, nums):
        """
        :type nums: List[int]
        :rtype: List[int]
        """

        # two index, without definition of the length of new_nums
        new_nums = []
        i = 0
        j = len(nums) - 1
        while i <= j:
            if nums[i] ** 2 < nums[j] ** 2:
                new_nums = [nums[j] ** 2] + new_nums
                j -= 1
            if nums[i] ** 2 >= nums[j] ** 2:
                new_nums = [nums[i] ** 2] + new_nums
                i += 1
        return new_nums

• Version 3: Two index, with definition of the length of new_nums

class Solution(object):
    def sortedSquares(self, nums):
        """
        :type nums: List[int]
        :rtype: List[int]
        """
        # two index, with definition of the length of new_nums
        n = len(nums)
        i = 0
        j = n - 1
        k = n - 1
        new_nums = [-1] * n
        while i <= j:
            left_square = nums[i] ** 2
            right_square = nums[j] ** 2
            if left_square < right_square:
                new_nums[k] = right_square
                j -= 1
            if left_square >= right_square:
                new_nums[k] = left_square
                i += 1
            k -= 1
        return new_nums

Hopefully, this blog can inspire you when solving LeetCode977. For any questions, please comment below.