287 Find the Duplicate Number(寻找重复数)

题目描述

Given an array nums containing n + 1 integers where each integer is between 1 and n (inclusive), prove that at least one duplicate number must exist. Assume that there is only one duplicate number, find the duplicate one.

Example 1:

Input: [1,3,4,2,2]
Output: 2

Example 2:

Input: [3,1,3,4,2]
Output: 3

Note:

You must not modify the array (assume the array is read only).
You must use only constant, O(1) extra space.
Your runtime complexity should be less than O(n^2).
There is only one duplicate number in the array, but it could be repeated more than once.

说明：本文只为记录一下核心思想及解法。

本题难点在于要达到以下要求：不能修改数组、空间复杂度O(1)、时间复杂度少于O(n^2)。

核心思想：本题可以使用数组配合下标，抽象成链表问题。相当于判断链表有环并找到环的入口点。本题只需找到入口点。而链表有环的问题我们有接触过就知道怎么解决了。

Answer:

class Solution {
       public int findDuplicate(int[] nums) {
     	int fast = 0, slow = 0;
    	while(true) {
    		fast = nums[nums[fast]];
    		slow = nums[slow];
    		if(fast == slow)
    			break;
    	}
    	fast = 0;
    	while(nums[fast] != nums[slow]) {
    		slow = nums[slow];
    		fast = nums[fast];
    	}
    	return nums[slow];
    }

}