# Posts tagged as “hard”

There is a directed graph of n colored nodes and m edges. The nodes are numbered from 0 to n - 1.

You are given a string colors where colors[i] is a lowercase English letter representing the color of the ith node in this graph (0-indexed). You are also given a 2D array edges where edges[j] = [aj, bj] indicates that there is a directed edge from node aj to node bj.

A valid path in the graph is a sequence of nodes x1 -> x2 -> x3 -> ... -> xk such that there is a directed edge from xi to xi+1 for every 1 <= i < k. The color value of the path is the number of nodes that are colored the most frequently occurring color along that path.

Return the largest color value of any valid path in the given graph, or -1 if the graph contains a cycle.

Example 1:

Input: colors = "abaca", edges = [[0,1],[0,2],[2,3],[3,4]]
Output: 3
Explanation: The path 0 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 contains 3 nodes that are colored "a" (red in the above image).


Example 2:

Input: colors = "a", edges = [[0,0]]
Output: -1
Explanation: There is a cycle from 0 to 0.


Constraints:

• n == colors.length
• m == edges.length
• 1 <= n <= 105
• 0 <= m <= 105
• colors consists of lowercase English letters.
• 0 <= aj, bj < n

## Solution: Topological Sorting

freq[n][c] := max freq of color c after visiting node n.

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

## python

You are given a 2D integer array intervals, where intervals[i] = [lefti, righti] describes the ith interval starting at lefti and ending at righti (inclusive). The size of an interval is defined as the number of integers it contains, or more formally righti - lefti + 1.

You are also given an integer array queries. The answer to the jth query is the size of the smallest interval i such that lefti <= queries[j] <= righti. If no such interval exists, the answer is -1.

Return an array containing the answers to the queries.

Example 1:

Input: intervals = [[1,4],[2,4],[3,6],[4,4]], queries = [2,3,4,5]
Output: [3,3,1,4]
Explanation: The queries are processed as follows:
- Query = 2: The interval [2,4] is the smallest interval containing 2. The answer is 4 - 2 + 1 = 3.
- Query = 3: The interval [2,4] is the smallest interval containing 3. The answer is 4 - 2 + 1 = 3.
- Query = 4: The interval [4,4] is the smallest interval containing 4. The answer is 4 - 4 + 1 = 1.
- Query = 5: The interval [3,6] is the smallest interval containing 5. The answer is 6 - 3 + 1 = 4.


Example 2:

Input: intervals = [[2,3],[2,5],[1,8],[20,25]], queries = [2,19,5,22]
Output: [2,-1,4,6]
Explanation: The queries are processed as follows:
- Query = 2: The interval [2,3] is the smallest interval containing 2. The answer is 3 - 2 + 1 = 2.
- Query = 19: None of the intervals contain 19. The answer is -1.
- Query = 5: The interval [2,5] is the smallest interval containing 5. The answer is 5 - 2 + 1 = 4.
- Query = 22: The interval [20,25] is the smallest interval containing 22. The answer is 25 - 20 + 1 = 6.


Constraints:

• 1 <= intervals.length <= 105
• 1 <= queries.length <= 105
• intervals[i].length == 2
• 1 <= lefti <= righti <= 107
• 1 <= queries[j] <= 107

## Solution: Offline Processing+ Priority Queue

Similar to 花花酱 LeetCode 1847. Closest Room

Sort intervals by right in descending order, sort queries in descending. Add valid intervals into the priority queue (or treeset) ordered by size in ascending order. Erase invalid ones. The first one (if any) will be the one with the smallest size that contains the current query.

Time complexity: O(nlogn + mlogm + mlogn)
Space complexity: O(m + n)

## C++

There is a hotel with n rooms. The rooms are represented by a 2D integer array rooms where rooms[i] = [roomIdi, sizei] denotes that there is a room with room number roomIdi and size equal to sizei. Each roomIdi is guaranteed to be unique.

You are also given k queries in a 2D array queries where queries[j] = [preferredj, minSizej]. The answer to the jth query is the room number id of a room such that:

• The room has a size of at least minSizej, and
• abs(id - preferredj) is minimized, where abs(x) is the absolute value of x.

If there is a tie in the absolute difference, then use the room with the smallest such id. If there is no such room, the answer is -1.

Return an array answer of length k where answer[j] contains the answer to the jth query.

Example 1:

Input: rooms = [[2,2],[1,2],[3,2]], queries = [[3,1],[3,3],[5,2]]
Output: [3,-1,3]
Explanation: The answers to the queries are as follows:
Query = [3,1]: Room number 3 is the closest as abs(3 - 3) = 0, and its size of 2 is at least 1. The answer is 3.
Query = [3,3]: There are no rooms with a size of at least 3, so the answer is -1.
Query = [5,2]: Room number 3 is the closest as abs(3 - 5) = 2, and its size of 2 is at least 2. The answer is 3.

Example 2:

Input: rooms = [[1,4],[2,3],[3,5],[4,1],[5,2]], queries = [[2,3],[2,4],[2,5]]
Output: [2,1,3]
Explanation: The answers to the queries are as follows:
Query = [2,3]: Room number 2 is the closest as abs(2 - 2) = 0, and its size of 3 is at least 3. The answer is 2.
Query = [2,4]: Room numbers 1 and 3 both have sizes of at least 4. The answer is 1 since it is smaller.
Query = [2,5]: Room number 3 is the only room with a size of at least 5. The answer is 3.

Constraints:

• n == rooms.length
• 1 <= n <= 105
• k == queries.length
• 1 <= k <= 104
• 1 <= roomIdi, preferredj <= 107
• 1 <= sizei, minSizej <= 107

## Solution: Off Processing: Sort + Binary Search

Time complexity: O(nlogn + mlogm)
Space complexity: O(n + m)

Sort queries and rooms by size in descending order, only add valid rooms (size >= min_size) to the treeset for binary search.

## Solution 2: Fenwick Tree

Time complexity: O(nlogS + mlogSlogn)
Space complexity: O(nlogS)

## C++

You want to build n new buildings in a city. The new buildings will be built in a line and are labeled from 1 to n.

However, there are city restrictions on the heights of the new buildings:

• The height of each building must be a non-negative integer.
• The height of the first building must be 0.
• The height difference between any two adjacent buildings cannot exceed 1.

Additionally, there are city restrictions on the maximum height of specific buildings. These restrictions are given as a 2D integer array restrictions where restrictions[i] = [idi, maxHeighti] indicates that building idi must have a height less than or equal to maxHeighti.

It is guaranteed that each building will appear at most once in restrictions, and building 1 will not be in restrictions.

Return the maximum possible height of the tallest building.

Example 1:

Input: n = 5, restrictions = [[2,1],[4,1]]
Output: 2
Explanation: The green area in the image indicates the maximum allowed height for each building.
We can build the buildings with heights [0,1,2,1,2], and the tallest building has a height of 2.

Example 2:

Input: n = 6, restrictions = []
Output: 5
Explanation: The green area in the image indicates the maximum allowed height for each building.
We can build the buildings with heights [0,1,2,3,4,5], and the tallest building has a height of 5.


Example 3:

Constraints:

• 2 <= n <= 109
• 0 <= restrictions.length <= min(n - 1, 105)
• 2 <= idi <= n
• idi is unique.
• 0 <= maxHeighti <= 109

## Solution: Two Passes

Trim the max heights based on neighboring max heights.
Two passes: left to right, right to left.

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

## C++

The XOR sum of a list is the bitwise XOR of all its elements. If the list only contains one element, then its XOR sum will be equal to this element.

• For example, the XOR sum of [1,2,3,4] is equal to 1 XOR 2 XOR 3 XOR 4 = 4, and the XOR sum of [3] is equal to 3.

You are given two 0-indexed arrays arr1 and arr2 that consist only of non-negative integers.

Consider the list containing the result of arr1[i] AND arr2[j] (bitwise AND) for every (i, j) pair where 0 <= i < arr1.length and 0 <= j < arr2.length.

Return the XOR sum of the aforementioned list.

Example 1:

Input: arr1 = [1,2,3], arr2 = [6,5]
Output: 0
Explanation: The list = [1 AND 6, 1 AND 5, 2 AND 6, 2 AND 5, 3 AND 6, 3 AND 5] = [0,1,2,0,2,1].
The XOR sum = 0 XOR 1 XOR 2 XOR 0 XOR 2 XOR 1 = 0.


Example 2:

Input: arr1 = [12], arr2 = [4]
Output: 4
Explanation: The list = [12 AND 4] = [4]. The XOR sum = 4.


Constraints:

• 1 <= arr1.length, arr2.length <= 105
• 0 <= arr1[i], arr2[j] <= 109

## Solution: Bit

(a[0] & b[i]) ^ (a[1] & b[i]) ^ … ^ (a[n-1] & b[i]) = (a[0] ^ a[1] ^ … ^ a[n-1]) & b[i]

We can pre compute that xor sum of array A.

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