【leetcode】11. Container With Most Water

题目：
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.

The above vertical lines are represented by array [1,8,6,2,5,4,8,3,7]. In this case, the max area of water (blue section) the container can contain is 49.

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思路：
很简单。类似快排的partition思想。begin指向第1个柱子，end指向最后一个柱子。如果begin所指柱子更矮，begin++；否则，end–。如果你如果begin与end相遇，算法结束。

理解：

• 【问】为什么要移动指向更矮柱子的指针？
  【答】因为水槽的容量是由短的一边决定的。如果移动指向更矮柱子的指针，容量可能变大，也可能变小；相反，移动指向更高柱子的指针，容量只能不变或变得更小，因为短板决定着水槽的容量。

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代码实现：

class Solution {
public:
    static int min(const int &a, const int &b){
        return a < b?a:b; 
    }
    int maxArea(vector<int>& height) {
        int begin = 0;
        int end = height.size()-1;
        int max = 0;
        while (begin < end){
            if ((end-begin)*min(height[begin],height[end]) > max){
                max = (end-begin)*min(height[begin],height[end]);
            }
            if (height[begin] < height[end]){
                ++begin;
            }else{
                --end;
            }
        }
        
        return max;
    }
};

discuss:

class Solution {
public:
    int maxArea(vector<int>& height) {
        int water = 0;
        int i = 0, j = height.size() - 1;
        
        while (i < j){
            int h = min(height[i], height[j]);
            water = max(water, (j - i) * h);
            
            // 两边都去找，只要找到一个比min(old_left, old_right)都高的柱子就行。当然，如果你本身就符合条件，那就不用去找了。
            while (height[i] <= h && i < j) ++i; // 找一个更高的柱子
            while (height[j] <= h && i < j) --j; // 找一个更高的柱子
        }
        
        return water;
    }
};

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参考：https://www.cnblogs.com/lightwindy/p/8495693.html