# Posts published in “Hashtable”

Given an integer array nums that does not contain any zeros, find the largest positive integer k such that -k also exists in the array.

Return the positive integer k. If there is no such integer, return -1.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [-1,2,-3,3]
Output: 3
Explanation: 3 is the only valid k we can find in the array.


Example 2:

Input: nums = [-1,10,6,7,-7,1]
Output: 7
Explanation: Both 1 and 7 have their corresponding negative values in the array. 7 has a larger value.


Example 3:

Input: nums = [-10,8,6,7,-2,-3]
Output: -1
Explanation: There is no a single valid k, we return -1.


Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 1000
• -1000 <= nums[i] <= 1000
• nums[i] != 0

## Solution 1: Hashtable

We can do in one pass by checking whether -x in the hashtable and update ans with abs(x) if so.

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(n)

## Solution 2: Sorting

Sort the array by abs(x) in descending order.

[-1,10,6,7,-7,1] becomes = [-1, 1, 6, -7, 7, 10]

Check whether arr[i] = -arr[i-1].

Time complexity: O(nlogn)
Space complexity: O(1)

## Solution 3: Two Pointers

Sort the array.

Let sum = nums[i] + nums[j], sum == 0, we find one pair, if sum < 0, ++i else –j.

Time complexity: O(nlogn)
Space complexity: O(1)

## C++

You are given a 0-indexed string s consisting of only lowercase English letters, where each letter in s appears exactly twice. You are also given a 0-indexed integer array distance of length 26.

Each letter in the alphabet is numbered from 0 to 25 (i.e. 'a' -> 0'b' -> 1'c' -> 2, … , 'z' -> 25).

In a well-spaced string, the number of letters between the two occurrences of the ith letter is distance[i]. If the ith letter does not appear in s, then distance[i] can be ignored.

Return true if s is a well-spaced string, otherwise return false.

Example 1:

Input: s = "abaccb", distance = [1,3,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
Output: true
Explanation:
- 'a' appears at indices 0 and 2 so it satisfies distance[0] = 1.
- 'b' appears at indices 1 and 5 so it satisfies distance[1] = 3.
- 'c' appears at indices 3 and 4 so it satisfies distance[2] = 0.
Note that distance[3] = 5, but since 'd' does not appear in s, it can be ignored.
Return true because s is a well-spaced string.


Example 2:

Input: s = "aa", distance = [1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
Output: false
Explanation:
- 'a' appears at indices 0 and 1 so there are zero letters between them.
Because distance[0] = 1, s is not a well-spaced string.


Constraints:

• 2 <= s.length <= 52
• s consists only of lowercase English letters.
• Each letter appears in s exactly twice.
• distance.length == 26
• 0 <= distance[i] <= 50

## Solution: Hashtable

Use a hastable to store the index of first occurrence of each letter.

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(26)

## C++

Given an integer array nums, return the most frequent even element.

If there is a tie, return the smallest one. If there is no such element, return -1.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [0,1,2,2,4,4,1]
Output: 2
Explanation:
The even elements are 0, 2, and 4. Of these, 2 and 4 appear the most.
We return the smallest one, which is 2.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [4,4,4,9,2,4]
Output: 4
Explanation: 4 is the even element appears the most.


Example 3:

Input: nums = [29,47,21,41,13,37,25,7]
Output: -1
Explanation: There is no even element.


Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 2000
• 0 <= nums[i] <= 105

## Solution: Hashtable

Use a hashtable to store the frequency of even numbers.

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(n)

## C++

You are given an integer array cards where cards[i] represents the value of the ith card. A pair of cards are matching if the cards have the same value.

Return the minimum number of consecutive cards you have to pick up to have a pair of matching cards among the picked cards. If it is impossible to have matching cards, return -1.

Example 1:

Input: cards = [3,4,2,3,4,7]
Output: 4
Explanation: We can pick up the cards [3,4,2,3] which contain a matching pair of cards with value 3. Note that picking up the cards [4,2,3,4] is also optimal.


Example 2:

Input: cards = [1,0,5,3]
Output: -1
Explanation: There is no way to pick up a set of consecutive cards that contain a pair of matching cards.


Constraints:

• 1 <= cards.length <= 105
• 0 <= cards[i] <= 106

## Solution: Hashtable

Record the last position of each number,
ans = min{cardi – last[cardi]}

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(n)

## C++

Given a 2D integer array nums where nums[i] is a non-empty array of distinct positive integers, return the list of integers that are present in each array ofnums sorted in ascending order.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [[3,1,2,4,5],[1,2,3,4],[3,4,5,6]]
Output: [3,4]
Explanation:
The only integers present in each of nums[0] = [3,1,2,4,5], nums[1] = [1,2,3,4], and nums[2] = [3,4,5,6] are 3 and 4, so we return [3,4].

Example 2:

Input: nums = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6]]
Output: []
Explanation:
There does not exist any integer present both in nums[0] and nums[1], so we return an empty list [].


Constraints:

• 1 <= nums.length <= 1000
• 1 <= sum(nums[i].length) <= 1000
• 1 <= nums[i][j] <= 1000
• All the values of nums[i] are unique.

## Solution: Hashtable

Time complexity: O(n)
Space complexity: O(n)