<leetcode>287. Find the Duplicate Number

Given an array nums containing n + 1 integers where each integer is between 1 and n (inclusive), prove that at least one duplicate number must exist. Assume that there is only one duplicate number, find the duplicate one.

Note:

1. You must not modify the array (assume the array is read only).
2. You must use only constant, O(1) extra space.
3. Your runtime complexity should be less than O(n2).
4. There is only one duplicate number in the array, but it could be repeated more than once.

题目解释：对于一个长度为n+1的数组，其元素的为1~n的范围，求数组中重复出现的元素。

解题思路：由于要求空间复杂度为O(1)，而且时间复杂度小于O(n2)，因此不能够使用同长度的数组进行标记，或者使用两个循环进行遍历。在这里使用了二分搜索的思路解决。对于1~n个数，先求出中间值mid，然后统计小于中间值mid的个数，因此重复出现的数会使得统计数量大于另一半的区域。

class Solution {
public:
    int findDuplicate(vector<int>& nums) {
        int n = nums.size()-1;
        int low = 1, high = n;
        while (low < high) {
            int mid = low + (high - low)/2;
            int count = 0;
            for (int i = 0; i < n+1; i++) {
                if (nums[i] <= mid) {
                    count ++;
                }
            }
            if (count <= mid) {
                low = mid +1;
            }
            else{
                high = mid;
            }
        }
        return low;
    }
};

后记：

对于该算法，其时间复杂度为O(n*log(n))