[leetcode] 11. Container With Most Water

[leetcode] 11. Container With Most Water

题目：Given n non-negative integers a1, a2, …, an, where each represents a point at coordinate (i, ai). n vertical lines are drawn such that the two endpoints of line i is at (i, ai) and (i, 0). Find two lines, which together with x-axis forms a container, such that the container contains the most water.

Note: You may not slant the container and n is at least 2.

题意：给定多个二元组(i, ai)，以(i, 0), (i ,ai)作为一个挡板的起点和终点，多个二元组(i, ai)可以表征多个挡板。在其中选取两个挡板和x轴作为一个容器，求所有容器中容量的最大值。

题解：首先给出选定两个挡板时求容量的公式V(i, j) = min(height[j], height[i]) * (j - i); (i < j)。先判断挡板数，小于2时不能形成容器，返回0。取左右边界两个挡板求第一个容量值。这时候，往中间扫描，为了保证结果正确，应该移动较低的挡板k。往中间寻找下一个比k高的挡板更新答案，最终 i >= j时结束。

代码如下：

class Solution:
    def maxArea(self, height):
        """
        :type height: List[int]
        :rtype: int
        """
        l = len(height)
        if l < 2: return 0
        i = 0
        j = l - 1;
        Max = min(height[i], height[j]) * (j - i)
        while i < j:
            if height[i] < height[j]:
                while height[i+1] < height[i]:
                    i = i + 1
                i = i + 1
                Max = max(Max, min(height[i], height[j]) * (j - i))
            else:
                while height[j-1] < height[j]:
                    j = j - 1
                j = j - 1
                Max = max(Max, min(height[i], height[j]) * (j - i))
        return Max

Accept: