LeetCode11. Container With Most Water

一、问题描述

Given n non-negative integers a1, a2, …, an, where each represents a point at coordinate (i, ai). n vertical lines are drawn such that the two endpoints of line i is at (i, ai) and (i, 0). Find two lines, which together with x-axis forms a container, such that the container contains the most water.

Note: You may not slant the container and n is at least 2.

二、解题思路

1、第一种方法是用嵌套循环遍历数组，依次计算每两条线与x轴围成的部分的容量，从而得到最大值，这种方法的时间复杂度为O(n^2)

2、第二种方法是使用两个指针left和right分别从数组两端开始遍历，每次比较left和right所指线段的大小，如果left的线段小于right，则选择右移left，因为如果左移right，就算得到的线段变长了，容器的有效高度也取决于较短的left，且因为left和right的距离变小了，导致容器的容量肯定变小；如果left的线段大于right，同理选择左移right；当left == right时，遍历结束。
该算法由于只遍历了一次数组，时间复杂度为O(n)

三、C++代码

class Solution {
public:
    int maxArea(vector<int>& height) {
        int biggest = 0, h, vol;
        int left = 0, right = height.size() - 1;
        while (left != right) {
            h = (height[left] > height[right] ? height[right] : height[left]);
            vol = h * (right - left);
            if (vol > biggest) {
                biggest = vol;
            }
            if (height[left] <  height[right]) left++;
            else right--;
        }
        return biggest;
    }
};