#383 Container With Most Water

题目描述：

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.

 Notice

You may not slant the container.

Have you met this question in a real interview? 

Yes

Example

Given [1,3,2], the max area of the container is 2.

题目思路：

根据木桶理论，最大的area是由短板决定的。这题可以用两个指针，一个初始指向左端，一个初始指向右端，得到一个当前的area。如何找可能更大的area？如果移动更高的那个指针，由于width变小，得到的area只能更小；所以我们只需要移动height更低的那个指针，找到新位置的area，然后与之前的area做max即可。

Mycode（AC = 38ms）：

class Solution {
public:
    /**
     * @param heights: a vector of integers
     * @return: an integer
     */
    int maxArea(vector<int> &heights) {
        // write your code here
        int l = 0, r = heights.size() - 1;
        int area = 0;
        
        while (l < r) {
            // find the area of current height and width
            int tmp = min(heights[l], heights[r]) * (r - l);
            
            // for shorter height, move the index forward
            if (heights[l] <= heights[r]) {
                l++;
            }
            else {
                r--;
            }
            
            // get max area
            area = max(tmp, area);
        }
        
        return area;
    }
};