LeetCode 11. Container With Most Water

题目来源：https://leetcode.com/problems/container-with-most-water/

问题描述

11. Container With Most Water

Medium

Given n non-negative integers a1, a2, ..., an , where each represents a point at coordinate (i, ai). nvertical 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.

 

The above vertical lines are represented by array [1,8,6,2,5,4,8,3,7]. In this case, the max area of water (blue section) the container can contain is 49.

 

Example:

Input: [1,8,6,2,5,4,8,3,7]

Output: 49

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题意

给定一组长度各异的线段，两个线段之间可以构成一个矩形，矩形的高度是较短的那个线段的高度，矩形的宽度是两个线段之间的距离，求矩形的最大面积。

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思路

维护两个指针l和r，分别从最左端和最右端开始向中间移动。注意到如果两指针指向线段较长的那个指针向中间移动，则得到的矩形一定比原矩形小，因此每次移动时只能移动指向线段较短的指针，直到两指针重合。在指针移动的过程中更新矩形的最大面积。复杂度为O(n).

暴力法也能通过（见注释掉的代码），复杂度为O(n^2).

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代码

class Solution {
    public int maxArea(int[] height) {
        // int vol = 0, i = 0, j = 0, n = height.length, cur = 0;
        // for (i=0; i<n-1; i++)
        // {
        //     for (j=n-1; j>i; j--)
        //     {
        //         cur = Math.min(height[i], height[j]) * (j - i);
        //         vol = cur > vol ? cur : vol;
        //     }
        // }
        // return vol;
        int n = height.length, l = 0, r = n - 1, cur = 0, vol = 0;
        while (l < r)
        {
            cur = Math.min(height[l], height[r])*(r-l);
            vol = cur > vol ? cur : vol;
            
            if (height[l] < height[r])
            {
                l++;
            }
            else
            {
                r--;
            }
        }
        return vol;
    }
}