Day 2 | 977. Squares of a Sorted Array | 209. Minimum Size Subarray Sum | 59. Spiral Matrix II

Day 1 | 704. Binary Search | 27. Remove Element | 35. Search Insert Position | 34. First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array

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LeetCode 977. Squares of a Sorted Array

Question Link

Solution:

class Solution {
    public int[] sortedSquares(int[] nums) {
        int left = 0;
        int right = nums.length - 1;
        int[] res = new int[nums.length];
        int index = nums.length - 1;
        while(left <= right){
            if(nums[left] * nums[left] > nums[right] * nums[right]){
                res[index--] = nums[left] * nums[left];
                left++;
            }
            else{
                res[index--] = nums[right] * nums[right];
                right--;
            }
        }
        return res;
    }
}

Thoughts:

• I adoped Double Pointer Method
  • left points to the start position.
  • right points to the end position.
• The maximum value of the square of the array elements must be at both ends of the array, impossible at the middle.

LeetCode 209. Minimum Size Subarray Sum

Question Link

Solution:

class Solution {
    public int minSubArrayLen(int target, int[] nums) {
        int left = 0;
        int sum = 0;
        int res = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
        for(int right = 0; right < nums.length; right++){
            sum += nums[right];
            while(sum >= target){
                // length of subarray: right - left + 1
                res = Integer.min(res, right - left + 1);
                // change the start position
                sum-=nums[left++];
            }
        }
        return res == Integer.MAX_VALUE ? 0 : res;
    }
}

Time Complexity：O(n)
Space Complexity：O(1)

Thoughts:

• We should adopt the Slide Window Method, which means constantly changing the start and end position of the subarray until we get the result.
• In this question, we should clarify the following three points:
  • What is the content of the window?
    • Minimum length contiguous subarray whose sum is larger than target
  • How to change that start position?
    • If the current window’s sum is larger than target, move forward left pointer
  • How to change the end position?
    • It’s the pointer that iterates the array, which is the for-loop index.

LeetCode 59. Spiral Matrix II

Question Link

Solution:

class Solution {
    public int[][] generateMatrix(int n) {
        int[][] result = new int[n][n];
        int start = 0;	// start position of each loop
        int count = 1;	// define the number to fill
        int i,j;
        while(start < n>>1){
            for(j = start; j < n-start-1; j++){
                result[start][j] = count++; 
            }
            for(i = start; i < n-start-1; i++){
                result[i][j] = count++;
            }
            for(; j > start; j--){
                result[i][j] = count++;
            }
            for(; i > start; i--){
                result[i][j] = count++;
            }
            start++;
        }
        // If n is an odd number, we should assign a value to the center matrix.
        if(n%2 == 1)
            result[start][start] = count;
        return result;
    }
}

Thoughts:

• Follow the loop invariant and left-closed right-opened principles when drawing each side.
• Drawing the matrix clockwise：
  • fill the row above from left to right
  • fill the right column from top to bottom
  • fill the row below from right to left
  • fill the left column from bottom to top
• If n is an odd number, we should assign a value to the center matrix.