【Leetcode】maximum Rangtangle in 2D matrix

【题目】

Given a 2D binary matrix filled with 0's and 1's, find the largest rectangle containing all ones and return its area.

【思路】

只能说不明觉厉：

The DP solution proceeds row by row, starting from the first row. Let the maximal rectangle area at row i and column j be computed by [right(i,j) - left(i,j)]*height(i,j).

All the 3 variables left, right, and height can be determined by the information from previous row, and also information from the current row. So it can be regarded as a DP solution. The transition equations are:

left(i,j) = max(left(i-1,j), curleft), curleft can be determined from the current row

right(i,j) = min(right(i-1,j), curright), curright can be determined from the current row

height(i,j) = height(i-1,j) + 1, if matrix[i][j]=='1';

height(i,j) = 0, if matrix[i][j]=='0'

The code is as below. The loops can be combined for speed but I separate them for more clarity of the algorithm.

class Solution {public:
int maximalRectangle(vector<vector<char> > &matrix) {
    if(matrix.empty()) return 0;
    const int m = matrix.size();
    const int n = matrix[0].size();
    int left[n], right[n], height[n];
    fill_n(left,n,0); fill_n(right,n,n); fill_n(height,n,0);
    int maxA = 0;
    for(int i=0; i<m; i++) {
        int cur_left=0, cur_right=n; 
        for(int j=0; j<n; j++) { // compute height (can do this from either side)
            if(matrix[i][j]=='1') height[j]++; 
            else height[j]=0;
        }
        for(int j=0; j<n; j++) { // compute left (from left to right)
            if(matrix[i][j]=='1') left[j]=max(left[j],cur_left);
            else {left[j]=0; cur_left=j+1;}
        }
        // compute right (from right to left)
        for(int j=n-1; j>=0; j--) {
            if(matrix[i][j]=='1') right[j]=min(right[j],cur_right);
            else {right[j]=n; cur_right=j;}    
        }
        // compute the area of rectangle (can do this from either side)
        for(int j=0; j<n; j++)
            maxA = max(maxA,(right[j]-left[j])*height[j]);
    }
    return maxA;
}

};

If you think this algorithm is not easy to understand, you can try this example:

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 
0 0 1 1 1 0 0 
0 1 1 1 1 1 0

The vector "left" and "right" from row 0 to row 2 are as follows

row 0:

l: 0 0 0 3 0 0 0
r: 7 7 7 4 7 7 7

row 1:

l: 0 0 2 3 2 0 0
r: 7 7 5 4 5 7 7 

row 2:

l: 0 1 2 3 2 1 0
r: 7 6 5 4 5 6 7

The vector "left" is computing the left boundary. Take (i,j)=(1,3) for example. On current row 1, the left boundary is at j=2. However, because matrix[1][3] is 1, you need to consider the left boundary on previous row as well, which is 3. So the real left boundary at (1,3) is 3.

I hope this additional explanation makes things clearer.