Maximum Subarray

Maximum Subarray

 

Find the contiguous subarray within an array (containing at least one number) which has the largest sum.

For example, given the array [−2,1,−3,4,−1,2,1,−5,4],
the contiguous subarray [4,−1,2,1] has the largest sum = 6.

click to show more practice.

More practice:

If you have figured out the O(n) solution, try coding another solution using the divide and conquer approach, which is more subtle.

Solution:

Keep a local maximum and a global maximum. sum is the local maximum and max is the global maximum.

public class Solution {
    public int maxSubArray(int[] nums) {
        if (nums == null || nums.length == 0)
            return 0;
        int sum = nums[0];//local maximum
        int max = nums[0];//global maximum
        
        for (int i = 1; i < nums.length; i++) {
            sum = Math.max(nums[i], sum + nums[i]);
            max = Math.max(max, sum);
        }
        
        return max;
    }
}