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.
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(n2)
. - There is only one duplicate number in the array, but it could be repeated more than once.
Credits:
Special thanks to @jianchao.li.fighter for adding this problem and creating all test cases.
做这道题之前建议先看142. Linked List Cycle II,解题思路有些相通。这里有n+1个数,范围是1-n,也就是说这个数组可以看成是一个链表nums[n]。这里把n看做node,nums[n]看作next操作。链表的表头怎么选,这里只能选0,为什么呢?因为nums[0]可以保证向别的跳转,nums[0]不会等于0,如果选1做表头,万一nums[1] == 1,就会死循环。思路可以参考引文,代码如下:
public class Solution {
public int findDuplicate(int[] nums) {
int slow = nums[0];
int fast = nums[nums[0]];
while (slow != fast) {
slow = nums[slow];
fast = nums[nums[fast]];
}
fast = 0;
while (slow != fast) {
slow = nums[slow];
fast = nums[fast];
}
return slow;
}
}