Problem Statement
(Source) You are given an array of positive and negative integers. If a number n at an index is positive, then move forward n steps. Conversely, if it’s negative (-n), move backward n steps. Assume the first element of the array is forward next to the last element, and the last element is backward next to the first element. Determine if there is a loop in this array. A loop starts and ends at a particular index with more than 1 element along the loop. The loop must be “forward” or “backward’.
Example 1: Given the array [2, -1, 1, 2, 2], there is a loop, from index 0 -> 2 -> 3 -> 0.
Example 2: Given the array [-1, 2], there is no loop.
Note: The given array is guaranteed to contain no element “0”.
Can you do it in O(n) time complexity and O(1) space complexity?
Solution
class Solution(object):
def circularArrayLoop(self, nums):
"""
:type nums: List[int]
:rtype: bool
"""
n = len(nums)
remain = n
for i in xrange(n):
if nums[i] != None:
# Test if starting from position i, the subsequent numbers can form
# a circular array or not.
j = i
count = 1
while True:
jj = j
j = (j + nums[j] + n) % n
if jj == j:
break
count += 1
if nums[j] == None or nums[j] * nums[i] < 0:
break
# If there is a circular loop, the count of elements of the loop
# will definitely approach the possible maximum size (original
# array size - those marked as None) at some point.
if count > remain:
return True
# Starting from position i, the subsequent numbers cannot form
# a circular array, mark all of them as None.
j = i
numsi = nums[i]
while nums[j] != None:
jj = j
remain -= 1
j = (j + nums[j] + n) % n
nums[jj] = None
if nums[j] == None or nums[j] * numsi < 0:
break
return False
Complexity Analysis:
- Time Complexity:
O(n)
. Each element in the input array
nums
can be visited at most three times within the while loop. Because when some elementx
is encountered for the second time, either it is an indication that a circular array loop cannot be formed (one more visiting time is needed to mark it as None), or a circular array loop has been formed (exit for loop and return the result). - Space Complexity: O(1) .