LintCode 14. First Position of Target

Description

For a given sorted array (ascending order) and a target number, find the first index of this number in O(log n) time complexity.
If the target number does not exist in the array, return -1.

给定一个排序的整数数组（升序）和一个要查找的整数target，用O(logn)的时间查找到target第一次出现的下标（从0开始），如果target不存在于数组中，返回-1。

Example

Example 1:

Input: [1,4,4,5,7,7,8,9,9,10]，1
Output: 0
Explanation:
the first index of 1 is 0.

Example 2:

Input: [1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 10]，3
Output: 2
Explanation:
the first index of 3 is 2.

Example 3:

Input: [1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 10]，6
Output: -1
Explanation:
Not exist 6 in array.

Challeng

If the count of numbers is bigger than 2^32, can your code work properly?

Submission

1. 二分法

• 因为是非单调递增序列，采用二分思想进行求解即可。

class Solution {
public:
    /**
     * @param nums: The integer array.
     * @param target: Target to find.
     * @return: The first position of target. Position starts from 0.
     */
    int binarySearch(vector<int> &nums, int target) {
        // write your code here
        int start = 0;
        int end = nums.size() - 1;
        if(nums.size() == 0) {
            return -1;
        }
        int mid;
        while(start + 1 < end) {
            mid = start + (end - start) / 2;
            if (nums[mid] >= target) {
                end = mid;
            }
            else {
                start = mid;
            }
        }
        if(nums[start] == target) {
            return start;
        } 
        if(nums[end] == target) {
            return end;
        }
        return -1;
    }
};