Algorithm and Data Structure Problem MCQs for NEETCODE

BLIND 75
This report presents a comprehensive set of multiple - choice questions (MCQs)
designed to assess understanding of the problems based on in the NEETCODE BLIND
75 list. Consists of 55 questions , These questions are structured to cover various
aspects of each problem, including the core objective, different solution approaches,
implementation details, and time and space complexity analysis. This resource aims to
provide a valuable tool for self - assessment and preparation for technical interviews.
Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array - LeetCode #153
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array" problem?
A) Find the maximum element in the array.
B) Find the minimum element in the array.
C) Find the middle element in the array.
D) Find if the array is sorted.
Question 2: Brute Force Approach and Time Complexity
What is the time complexity of a brute force approach for the "Find Minimum in Rotated
Sorted Array" problem, where you iterate through the entire array?
A) O(log n)
B) O(n log n)
C) O(n)
D) O(n^2)
Question 3: Optimization Approach
Which algorithm can be used to optimize the solution for the "Find Minimum in Rotated
Sorted Array" problem to achieve O(log n) time complexity?
A) Linear Search
B) Bubble Sort
C) Binary Search
D) Merge Sort
Question 4: Implementation of the Optimized Approach
How can Binary Search be used to find the minimum element in a rotated sorted array?
A) Always check the middle element; if it's smaller than its neighbors, it's the minimum.
B) Compare the middle element with the rightmost element; if the middle is greater, the
minimum is in the right half; otherwise, it's in the left half.
C) Compare the middle element with the leftmost element; if the middle is smaller, the
minimum is in the left half; otherwise, it's in the right half.
D) Iterate using binary search until the left and right pointers meet.
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity of the Optimized Solution
What is the time and space complexity of the optimized solution for the "Find Minimum in
Rotated Sorted Array" problem using Binary Search?
A) Time complexity: O(n), Space complexity: O(1)
B) Time complexity: O(log n), Space complexity: O(n)
C) Time complexity: O(log n), Space complexity: O(1)
D) Time complexity: O(n log n), Space complexity: O(log n)
Search in Rotated Sorted Array - LeetCode #33
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Search in Rotated Sorted Array" problem?
A) Find the index of the maximum element.
B) Find the index of the minimum element.
C) Find the index of a given target value.
D) Sort the given array.
Question 2: Brute Force Approach and Time Complexity
What is the time complexity of iterating through the entire array to find the target in "Search
in Rotated Sorted Array"?
A) O(log n)
B) O(n log n)
C) O(n)
D) O(1)
Question 3: Optimization Approach
Which algorithm is most efficient for searching in a rotated sorted array?
A) Linear Search
B) Bubble Sort
C) Binary Search
D) Quick Sort
Question 4: Implementation of the Optimized Approach
In the modified binary search for a rotated sorted array, what is the key condition to check to
determine which half of the array to search further?
A) Compare the middle element with the target value only.
B) Compare the middle element with both the target value and the leftmost/rightmost
element to determine if the current subarray is sorted.
C) Always search both halves of the array.
D) Only compare the leftmost and rightmost elements.
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity of the Optimized Solution
What is the time and space complexity of the optimized solution for "Search in Rotated
Sorted Array" using binary search?
A) Time: O(n), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(log n), Space: O(n)
C) Time: O(log n), Space: O(1)
D) Time: O(n log n), Space: O(log n)
3Sum - LeetCode #15
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the primary goal of the "3Sum" problem?
A) Find all unique triplets in an array that sum to a given target.
B) Find if there exists any triplet in an array that sums to zero.
C) Find all unique triplets in an array that sum to zero.
D) Find the triplet with the maximum sum in an array.
Question 2: Brute Force Approach and Time Complexity
What is the time complexity of a brute - force approach to the "3Sum" problem, which involves
checking all possible combinations of three numbers in the array?
A) O(n)
B) O(n log n)
C) O(n^2)
D) O(n^3)
Question 3: Optimization Approach
Which approach significantly optimizes the "3Sum" problem to achieve a time complexity
better than O(n^3)?
A) Using a single pointer.
B) Using sorting followed by a two - pointer technique.
C) Using a hash map to store all pairs.
D) Using recursion.
Question 4: Implementation of the Optimized Approach
After sorting the array in the optimized "3Sum" solution, how are the two pointers typically
used?
A) They both start from the beginning of the array and move towards the end.
B) One pointer starts from the beginning, and the other starts from the end of the remaining
subarray after fixing the first element.
C) They both start from the end of the array and move towards the beginning.
D) One pointer iterates through the array, and the other stays fixed.
Question 5: Handling Duplicates
In the optimized "3Sum" solution, what is a common technique to avoid including duplicate
triplets in the result?
A) Using a set to store the resulting triplets.
B) Skipping over elements that are the same as the previous element when moving the
pointers.
C) Sorting the triplets before adding them to the result.
D) Only considering positive numbers in the array.
Container With Most Water - LeetCode #11
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Container With Most Water" problem?
A) Find the container with the minimum water capacity.
B) Find the container with the maximum water capacity, formed by two vertical lines and the
x- axis.
C) Find the container with a specific water capacity.
D) Calculate the total water capacity of all possible containers.
Question 2: Brute Force Approach and Time Complexity
What is the time complexity of the brute - force approach to the "Container With Most Water"
problem, where you calculate the area for every pair of vertical lines?
A) O(n)
B) O(log n)
C) O(n^2)
D) O(n log n)
Question 3: Optimization Approach
Which technique is used to optimize the solution for the "Container With Most Water"
problem to achieve a linear time complexity?
A) Divide and conquer.
B) Greedy approach using two pointers.
C) Dynamic programming.
D) Backtracking.
Question 4: Implementation of the Optimized Approach
In the optimized two - pointer approach, where do the pointers initially start, and how are they
moved?
A) Both pointers start at the beginning and move towards the end.
B) Both pointers start at the end and move towards the beginning.
C) One pointer starts at the beginning, and the other starts at the end. The pointer with the
shorter height is moved inward.
D) One pointer iterates through the array, and the other stays fixed.
Question 5: Logic Behind Moving Pointers
In the optimized solution, why is the pointer with the shorter height moved inward?
A) Moving the taller pointer will always decrease or keep the same the area.
B) Moving the shorter pointer has the potential to increase the height of the container, thus
potentially increasing the area.
C) Moving either pointer doesn't affect the potential for finding a larger area.
D) Only the left pointer should be moved.
Binary Search - LeetCode #704
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the fundamental requirement for applying the Binary Search algorithm to find a
target element in an array?
A) The array must be sorted in ascending order.
B) The array must be sorted in descending order.
C) The array can be unsorted.
D) The array must contain only unique elements.
Question 2: Core Principle of Binary Search
What is the core principle behind the Binary Search algorithm?
A) Linearly scan the array until the target is found.
B) Repeatedly divide the search interval in half.
C) Compare the target with every element in the array.
D) Sort the array and then perform a linear scan.
Question 3: Iterative Implementation
In the iterative implementation of Binary Search, what are the roles of the 'left' and 'right'
pointers?
A) They define the upper and lower bounds of the search space.
B) They point to the first and last elements of the array, respectively.
C) They are used to swap elements during sorting.
D) They are not used in the iterative approach.
Question 4: Recursive Implementation
In the recursive implementation of Binary Search, what is the base case for the recursion?
A) When the target is found.
B) When the left pointer becomes greater than the right pointer.
C) When the middle element is the target.
D) When the array has only one element.
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity
What is the time and space complexity of the Binary Search algorithm?
A) Time: O(n), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(log n), Space: O(1) (for iterative) or O(log n) (for recursive due to call stack)
C) Time: O(n log n), Space: O(1)
D) Time: O(n^2), Space: O(n)
Flood Fill - LeetCode #733
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Flood Fill" algorithm?
A) To find the shortest path between two points in a grid.
B) To change the color of a connected region of pixels in a grid to a new color.
C) To count the number of connected regions in a grid.
D) To sort the colors of pixels in a grid.
Question 2: Graph Traversal Algorithms
Which graph traversal algorithms are commonly used to implement the Flood Fill algorithm?
A) Dijkstra's algorithm and A* search.
B) Breadth- First Search (BFS) and Depth- First Search (DFS).
C) Merge Sort and Quick Sort.
D) Linear Search and Binary Search.
Question 3: Base Case for Recursion (DFS)
In a recursive Depth - First Search (DFS) implementation of Flood Fill, what is a typical base
case to stop the recursion?
A) When the current pixel's color is different from the original color.
B) When the current pixel is outside the bounds of the grid.
C) When the current pixel has already been visited and filled with the new color.
D) All of the above.
Question 4: Using a Queue (BFS)
In a Breadth- First Search (BFS) implementation of Flood Fill, what data structure is used to
keep track of the pixels to be processed?
A) Stack
B) Queue
C) Priority Queue
D) Set
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity
What is the typical time and space complexity of the Flood Fill algorithm, where R is the
number of rows and C is the number of columns in the grid?
A) Time: O(R * C), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(R * C), Space: O(R * C) (in the worst case due to recursion depth or queue size)
C) Time: O(R + C), Space: O(1)
D) Time: O(log(R * C)), Space: O(log(R * C))
Number of Islands - LeetCode #200
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the goal of the "Number of Islands" problem?
A) To find the largest island in a grid.
B) To count the total number of land cells ('1') in a grid.
C) To count the number of distinct connected groups of land cells in a grid.
D) To find the shortest path between two land cells.
Question 2: Approach to Solving
Which general approach is commonly used to solve the "Number of Islands" problem?
A) Sorting the grid.
B) Using dynamic programming to build up the count.
C) Traversing the grid and using graph traversal techniques (like BFS or DFS) to identify
connected components.
D) Applying a greedy algorithm.
Question 3: Marking Visited Cells
When using graph traversal (BFS or DFS) to solve "Number of Islands," why is it important to
mark visited land cells?
A) To avoid counting the same island multiple times.
B) To optimize the traversal process.
C) To ensure that the traversal explores all possible paths.
D) All of the above.
Question 4: Initiating Traversal
How is the traversal (BFS or DFS) typically initiated to find and count islands?
A) Start the traversal from the top - left corner of the grid.
B) Start the traversal from any land cell that has not been visited yet.
C) Start the traversal from any water cell ('0').
D) Perform a single traversal of the entire grid.
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity
What is the typical time and space complexity of the "Number of Islands" problem, where M is
the number of rows and N is the number of columns in the grid?
A) Time: O(M * N), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(M * N), Space: O(M * N) (in the worst case due to recursion depth or queue size)
C) Time: O(M + N), Space: O(1)
D) Time: O(log(M * N)), Space: O(log(M * N))
Clone Graph - LeetCode #133
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Clone Graph" problem?
A) To create a deep copy of a given undirected graph.
B) To check if two graphs are identical.
C) To traverse a given graph.
D) To modify the structure of a given graph.
Question 2: Deep Copy vs. Shallow Copy
Why is a deep copy required when cloning a graph, as opposed to a shallow copy?
A) A shallow copy creates new nodes but references the same neighbor objects, leading to
modifications in the clone affecting the original graph.
B) A shallow copy only copies the structure of the graph, not the node values.
C) A deep copy is always more efficient than a shallow copy for graph data structures.
D) There is no difference between a deep copy and a shallow copy for graphs.
Question 3: Graph Traversal for Cloning
Which graph traversal algorithms are commonly used to implement the cloning of a graph?
A) Linear Search and Binary Search.
B) Merge Sort and Quick Sort.
C) Breadth - First Search (BFS) and Depth- First Search (DFS).
D) Dynamic Programming.
Question 4: Keeping Track of Visited Nodes
Why is it crucial to keep track of visited nodes during the graph cloning process?
A) To avoid infinite loops in the case of cyclic graphs.
B) To ensure that each node in the original graph is cloned exactly once.
C) To correctly establish the neighbor relationships in the cloned graph.
D) All of the above.
Question 5: Data Structure for Mapping
What data structure is often used to map the nodes of the original graph to their
corresponding cloned nodes?
A) Stack
B) Queue
C) Hash Map (or Dictionary)
D) Set
Max Area of Island - LeetCode #695
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the goal of the "Max Area of Island" problem?
A) To count the total number of islands in a grid.
B) To find the island with the largest perimeter in a grid.
C) To find the area (number of land cells) of the largest connected island in a grid.
D) To determine if all islands in a grid have the same area.
Question 2: Approach to Solving
Similar to "Number of Islands," which approach is most suitable for solving "Max Area of
Island"?
A) Sorting the grid.
B) Using dynamic programming.
C) Traversing the grid and using graph traversal techniques (BFS or DFS) to explore
connected land cells.
D) Applying a greedy algorithm.
Question 3: Calculating Island Area
How is the area of an individual island typically calculated when using graph traversal (BFS or
DFS)?
A) By counting the number of times the traversal is initiated.
B) By keeping a counter that increments for each visited land cell during the traversal of a
single island.
C) By multiplying the dimensions of the bounding box of the island.
D) By summing the values of all the land cells in the island.
Question 4: Updating the Maximum Area
How is the maximum area encountered so far tracked during the traversal of the grid?
A) By storing the areas of all islands in a list and then finding the maximum.
B) By maintaining a variable that is updated whenever a newly found island's area is greater
than the current maximum.
C) By sorting the islands based on their area after finding all of them.
D) The maximum area is implicitly determined by the last island found.
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity
What is the typical time and space complexity of the "Max Area of Island" problem, where M
is the number of rows and N is the number of columns in the grid?
A) Time: O(M * N), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(M * N), Space: O(M * N) (in the worst case due to recursion depth or queue size)
C) Time: O(M + N), Space: O(1)
D) Time: O(log(M * N)), Space: O(log(M * N))
Pacific Atlantic Water Flow - LeetCode #417
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Pacific Atlantic Water Flow" problem?
A) To find the shortest path from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.
B) To count the number of cells from which water can flow to both the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans.
C) To determine the direction of water flow from each cell in a grid of heights.
D) To find the total amount of water that can be collected in the grid.
Question 2: Flow Condition
According to the problem statement, under what condition can water flow from one cell to an
adjacent cell?
A) If the adjacent cell has a higher or equal height.
B) If the adjacent cell has a strictly higher height.
C) If the adjacent cell has a lower or equal height.
D) If the adjacent cell has a strictly lower height.
Question 3: Multiple Traversals
How is the problem typically solved, considering water can flow to both the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans?
A) By performing a single traversal starting from an arbitrary cell.
B) By performing two separate traversals: one starting from the Pacific Ocean borders and
another from the Atlantic Ocean borders.
C) By performing a traversal that simultaneously explores paths to both oceans.
D) By using dynamic programming to store the flow information.
Question 4: Identifying Reachable Cells
How are the cells reachable from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans identified during the
traversals?
A) By marking cells with different colors or values based on which ocean they can reach.
B) By calculating the total flow from each cell to the oceans.
C) By finding the minimum height along the path to each ocean.
D) By using a single boolean flag to indicate reachability to either ocean.
Question 5: Finding the Intersection
After performing the two traversals, how are the cells that can reach both oceans
determined?
A) By finding the cells that were visited in both traversals.
B) By calculating the average reachability score for each cell.
C) By finding the cells with the maximum height.
D) By randomly selecting cells from both reachable sets.
Surrounded Regions - LeetCode #130
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Surrounded Regions" problem?
A) To count the number of 'O's in a grid.
B) To find the largest connected region of 'O's.
C) To capture all 'O's that are completely surrounded by 'X's and change them to 'X's.
D) To change all 'X's to 'O's in the grid.
Question 2: Identifying Unsurrounded 'O's
Which 'O's in the grid are guaranteed not to be surrounded?
A) 'O's in the center of the grid.
B) 'O's that are adjacent to other 'O's.
C) 'O's that are located on the border of the grid.
D) 'O's that have more 'O' neighbors than 'X' neighbors.
Question 3: Approach to Solving
What is a common approach to solve this problem efficiently?
A) Iterate through all 'O's and check their neighbors.
B) Start a traversal (BFS or DFS) from all the 'O's on the border of the grid.
C) Use dynamic programming to track surrounded regions.
D) Randomly flip 'O's to 'X's until no more 'O's are surrounded.
Question 4: Marking Unsurrounded 'O's
During the traversal from the border 'O's, how are the unsurrounded 'O's typically marked?
A) They are changed to a different temporary character.
B) They are stored in a separate data structure.
C) Their coordinates are added to a set.
D) No explicit marking is needed.
Question 5: Final Transformation
After identifying the unsurrounded 'O's, what is the final step to solve the problem?
A) Change all remaining 'O's (which are surrounded) to 'X's.
B) Change all marked unsurrounded 'O's back to 'O's.
C) Change all 'X's to 'O's in the grid.
D) Remove all the marked unsurrounded 'O's from the grid.
Course Schedule - LeetCode #207
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Course Schedule" problem?
A) To find the shortest path to complete all courses.
B) To determine if it is possible to finish all given courses, considering their prerequisites.
C) To find the optimal order in which to take the courses.
D) To calculate the total time required to complete all courses.
Question 2: Representing Prerequisites
How can the prerequisites between courses be naturally represented as a graph?
A) Courses as nodes and prerequisites as undirected edges.
B) Courses as nodes and prerequisites as directed edges.
C) Courses as edges and prerequisites as nodes.
D) Using an adjacency matrix where rows and columns represent courses.
Question 3: Detecting Cycles
The problem of determining if all courses can be finished is equivalent to detecting what in
the prerequisite graph?
A) The presence of a cycle.
B) The number of connected components.
C) The length of the longest path.
D) The presence of a self - loop.
Question 4: Topological Sorting
Which graph algorithm is often used to determine if a directed acyclic graph (DAG) exists,
which in this context means if all courses can be finished?
A) Breadth- First Search (BFS).
B) Depth- First Search (DFS).
C) Topological Sort.
D) Dijkstra's Algorithm.
Question 5: Implementing Cycle Detection
How can cycle detection be implemented using either BFS or DFS in the context of the
"Course Schedule" problem?
A) By keeping track of visited nodes and checking for back edges (in DFS) or by counting in -
degrees (in BFS).
B) By counting the number of edges in the graph.
C) By checking if the graph is fully connected.
D) By randomly traversing the graph and seeing if you return to the starting node.
Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph -
LeetCode #323
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the goal of the "Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph"
problem?
A) To find the shortest path between any two nodes in the graph.
B) To count the number of distinct sets of nodes where there is a path between any two
nodes within each set, and no path between nodes in different sets.
C) To find the largest connected component in the graph.
D) To determine if the graph is a tree.
Question 2: Approaches to Solving
Which algorithmic approaches are commonly used to solve this problem?
A) Sorting the edges and nodes.
B) Using graph traversal algorithms (BFS or DFS) or the Union- Find data structure.
C) Applying dynamic programming techniques.
D) Using a greedy approach to merge components.
Question 3: Using Graph Traversal (BFS/DFS)
How can graph traversal (BFS or DFS) be used to count connected components?
A) Perform a single traversal starting from an arbitrary node and count the number of visited
nodes.
B) Iterate through all nodes. If a node hasn't been visited yet, start a new traversal from that
node and increment the component count.
C) Perform a traversal from each node and sum the number of reachable nodes.
D) The number of connected components is equal to the number of edges minus the number
of nodes plus one.
Question 4: Using Union- Find
How does the Union- Find data structure help in solving this problem?
A) It maintains sets representing connected components and allows for efficient merging of
components when an edge is encountered.
B) It helps in finding the shortest path between nodes.
C) It sorts the nodes based on their connectivity.
D) It detects cycles in the graph.
Question 5: Final Count
After processing all the edges using Union - Find, how is the number of connected
components determined?
A) By counting the number of edges remaining.
B) By counting the number of distinct roots (representatives) of the sets.
C) By counting the number of nodes that are not part of any set.
D) By finding the maximum size of any set.
Implement Trie (Prefix Tree) - LeetCode #208
Question 1: Understanding the Data Structure
What is the primary purpose of a Trie (also known as a Prefix Tree)?
A) To store sorted lists of words.
B) To efficiently store and retrieve strings based on their prefixes.
C) To implement a hash map for string keys.
D) To compress strings by identifying common substrings.
Question 2: Structure of a Trie Node
What is a common way to represent a node in a Trie?
A) As a single character.
B) As an array or hash map of pointers to child nodes, where each pointer corresponds to a
possible character.
C) As a linked list of characters.
D) As a binary search tree.
Question 3: Marking the End of a Word
How is the end of a complete word typically marked in a Trie?
A) By using a special character at the end of the word.
B) By setting a boolean flag in the node that represents the last character of the word.
C) By having a null pointer after the last character.
D) By storing the entire word in the last node.
Question 4: Implementing insert(word)
What is the process of inserting a word into a Trie?
A) Start from the root and traverse down the Trie, creating new nodes for characters that
don't exist in the path, and mark the last node as the end of the word.
B) Prepend the word to the Trie.
C) Append the word to the Trie.
D) Store the word in a separate list associated with the Trie.
Question 5: Implementing search(word) and startsWith(prefix)
What is the key difference in implementation between the search(word) and
startsWith(prefix) operations in a Trie?
A) search(word) needs to check if the node corresponding to the end of the word is marked
as such, while startsWith(prefix) only needs to check if the path corresponding to the prefix
exists.
B) search(word) starts from the end of the Trie, while startsWith(prefix) starts from the root.
C) search(word) uses BFS, while startsWith(prefix) uses DFS.
D) There is no difference in their implementation.
Design Add and Search Words Data Structure - LeetCode #211
Question 1: Understanding the Problem Extension
How does the "Design Add and Search Words Data Structure" problem extend the basic Trie
functionality?
A) It requires the ability to delete words.
B) It introduces wildcard characters ('.') in the search operation, which can match any single
letter.
C) It requires storing additional information about each word, such as its frequency.
D) It deals with a dictionary of phrases instead of single words.
Question 2: Handling Wildcard Characters in Search
When a wildcard character ('.') is encountered during the search operation, how is the search
typically handled?
A) The search stops at that point.
B) The search branches out to explore all possible characters at that position in the Trie.
C) The wildcard character is ignored.
D) The wildcard character is treated as a specific character, like 'a'.
Question 3: Recursive Approach for Search with Wildcards
A recursive approach is often used for the search operation with wildcards. What is the role
of the recursive calls?
A) To backtrack when a match is not found.
B) To explore each child node of the current Trie node when a wildcard is encountered.
C) To optimize the search process by pruning unnecessary branches.
D) All of the above.
Question 4: Impact on Time Complexity
How does the introduction of wildcard characters in the search operation affect the time
complexity compared to a standard Trie search?
A) The time complexity remains the same.
B) The time complexity can potentially increase because multiple branches might need to be
explored due to the wildcard.
C) The time complexity always decreases due to the flexibility of the wildcard.
D) The time complexity becomes logarithmic.
Question 5: Data Structure Choice
Is a standard Trie still a suitable underlying data structure for this problem extension?
A) No, a different data structure like a hash map is required.
B) Yes, a Trie can be adapted to handle wildcard searches, typically through modifications in
the search logic.
C) Only if the number of wildcard characters is limited.
D) Only for the addWord operation, a different structure is needed for search.
Word Search II - LeetCode #212
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Word Search II" problem?
A) To find if a single given word exists in a grid of characters.
B) To find all words from a given list that exist in a grid of characters, where words can be
formed by moving to adjacent cells.
C) To find the longest word that can be formed in a grid of characters.
D) To count the number of words that can be formed in a grid of characters.
Question 2: Combining Trie and Backtracking
What data structure and algorithmic technique are commonly combined to solve this problem
efficiently?
A) Hash Set and Linear Search.
B) Trie (Prefix Tree) and Backtracking (Depth - First Search).
C) Binary Search Tree and Divide and Conquer.
D) Linked List and Iteration.
Question 3: Using Trie for Efficiency
How does using a Trie to store the list of words improve the efficiency of the search?
A) It allows for quick checking of whether a prefix of the current path in the grid is also a
prefix of any word in the given list.
B) It sorts the words in the list, making the search faster.
C) It eliminates the need to check for boundaries in the grid.
D) It automatically handles duplicate words in the list.
Question 4: Backtracking in the Grid
What is the role of backtracking (DFS) in the grid traversal?
A) To explore all possible paths starting from each cell in the grid.
B) To find the shortest path for each word.
C) To sort the characters in the grid.
D) To count the number of unique characters in the grid.
Question 5: Avoiding Revisiting Cells
During the backtracking process for a single word search, how is it ensured that a cell is not
used more than once in the formation of the word?
A) By using a separate grid to mark visited cells during the current path exploration.
B) By sorting the characters in the current path.
C) By limiting the depth of the search.
D) By only moving in one direction (e.g., right and down).
Merge Intervals - LeetCode #56
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the goal of the "Merge Intervals" problem?
A) To sort a given list of intervals.
B) To find the intersection of all intervals in a list.
C) To merge all overlapping intervals in a list into non - overlapping intervals.
D) To count the number of non - overlapping intervals in a list.
Question 2: Importance of Sorting
What is the first crucial step in efficiently solving the "Merge Intervals" problem?
A) Sorting the intervals based on their end times.
B) Sorting the intervals based on their lengths.
C) Sorting the intervals based on their start times.
D) Randomly shuffling the intervals.
Question 3: Condition for Overlapping Intervals
Given two intervals [a, b] and [c, d] (where a ≤ b and c ≤ d), under what condition do they
ove rla p?
A) b < c
B) d < a
C) b ≥ c and d ≥ a
D) b ≤ c or d ≤ a
Que s tion 4: Me rging Ove rla pping Inte rva ls
If two inte rva ls [a, b] and [c, d] ove rla p and a re to be me rge d, what will be the s ta rt and e nd
of the me rge d inte rva l (a s suming a ≤ c)?
A) [a , b]
B) [c, d]
C) [min(a , c), ma x(b, d)]
D) [ma x(a, c), min(b, d)]
Que s tion 5: Ite ra ting a nd Me rging
Afte r sorting the inte rva ls by the ir sta rt time s, how a re the me rging ope rations typica lly
pe rforme d?
A) Ite ra te through the sorte d inte rva ls , a nd for e ach inte rva l, compa re it with a ll s ubs e que nt
inte rva ls to find ove rla ps.
B) Ite ra te through the sorte d inte rva ls , a nd ke e p track of the curre nt me rge d inte rva l.
Compa re the ne xt inte rva l with the curre nt me rge d inte rva l and e xte nd or s ta rt a ne w me rge d
inte rva l a s ne e de d.
C) Use a re cursive a pproa ch to divide a nd me rge inte rva ls .
D) Us e a has h ma p to group ove rla pping inte rva ls .
Non - overlapping Intervals - LeetCode #435
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Non - overlapping Intervals" problem?
A) To find the maximum number of overlapping intervals.
B) To find the minimum number of intervals that need to be removed to make the remaining
intervals non - overlapping.
C) To merge all overlapping intervals into a single interval.
D) To sort the intervals based on their overlap.
Question 2: Greedy Approach
What type of algorithmic approach is typically used to solve this problem efficiently?
A) Dynamic Programming.
B) Greedy Approach.
C) Divide and Conquer.
D) Backtracking.
Question 3: Sorting Strategy
Based on what criteria should the intervals be sorted to apply the greedy approach
effectively?
A) By their start times in ascending order.
B) By their end times in ascending order.
C) By their lengths in ascending order.
D) By their start times in descending order.
Question 4: Logic of the Greedy Choice
When iterating through the sorted intervals, what is the greedy choice made at each step?
A) Always keep the interval with the earliest start time.
B) Always keep the interval with the shortest length.
C) Always keep the interval that ends earliest among the non - overlapping intervals
encountered so far.
D) Always keep the interval with the latest end time.
Question 5: Counting Removals
How is the minimum number of intervals to remove determined using this greedy strategy?
A) By counting the number of intervals that are kept. The total number of intervals minus the
number kept is the answer.
B) By directly counting the number of intervals that overlap with the previously kept interval.
C) By finding the longest chain of non - overlapping intervals and subtracting its length from
the total number of intervals.
D) By calculating the total length of all overlaps and dividing by the average length of an
interval.
Word Search - LeetCode #79
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Word Search" problem?
A) To find all occurrences of a given word in a grid of characters.
B) To determine if a given word can be formed by traversing adjacent (up, down, left, right)
cells in a grid of characters.
C) To find the longest word that can be formed in the grid.
D) To count the number of words that can be formed in the grid.
Question 2: Algorithmic Approach
Which algorithmic technique is commonly used to solve this problem?
A) Dynamic Programming.
B) Greedy Algorithm.
C) Backtracking (Depth - First Search).
D) Breadth - First Search.
Question 3: Starting the Search
From which cells in the grid can the search for the first letter of the word begin?
A) Only from the top - left cell.
B) Only from the cells on the border of the grid.
C) From any cell in the grid.
D) Only from the cells containing the last letter of the word.
Question 4: Moving to Adjacent Cells
During the search for the subsequent letters of the word, what are the allowed movements
from the current cell?
A) Only to the right and down.
B) Only to the left and up.
C) To any of the four adjacent cells (up, down, left, right).
D) To any of the eight neighboring cells (including diagonals).
Question 5: Avoiding Revisiting Cells in a Path
How is it ensured that a cell is not used more than once in the formation of the word during a
single search path?
A) By using a separate grid of the same size to mark visited cells during the current path
exploration.
B) By sorting the characters in the current path.
C) By limiting the depth of the search to the length of the word.
D) By only moving in one direction along each path.
Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters - LeetCode #3
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters" problem?
A) Find the longest substring of a given string that contains only repeating characters.
B) Find the longest substring of a given string that contains no repeating characters.
C) Find the number of substrings in a given string without repeating characters.
D) Find all substrings of a given string without repeating characters.
Question 2: Sliding Window Technique
Which algorithmic technique is commonly used to solve this problem efficiently?
A) Dynamic Programming.
B) Greedy Approach.
C) Sliding Window.
D) Divide and Conquer.
Question 3: Window Boundaries
In the sliding window technique, what do the left and right pointers of the window represent?
A) The start and end indices of the current substring being considered.
B) The indices of the first and last occurrences of the same character.
C) The boundaries of the entire string.
D) The middle and end indices of the string.
Question 4: Expanding and Shrinking the Window
How is the sliding window expanded and shrunk?
A) The window is expanded by moving both pointers to the right, and shrunk by moving both
pointers to the left.
B) The window is expanded by moving the right pointer to the right, and shrunk by moving the
left pointer to the right when a repeating character is found.
C) The window is expanded by moving the left pointer to the left, and shrunk by moving the
right pointer to the left when a repeating character is found.
D) The window size remains constant.
Question 5: Keeping Track of Characters in the Window
What data structure is often used to efficiently check if a character is already present in the
current window?
A) Stack.
B) Queue.
C) Hash Set (or a frequency array).
D) Linked List.
Longest Repeating Character Replacement - LeetCode #424
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Longest Repeating Character Replacement" problem?
A) Find the longest substring of a given string where all characters are the same.
B) Find the longest substring of a given string that can be made into a repeating character
substring by replacing at most k characters.
C) Find the minimum number of replacements needed to make the entire string a repeating
character string.
D) Find all substrings that can be made into repeating character substrings with at most k
replacements.
Question 2: Sliding Window Technique
Which algorithmic technique is commonly used to solve this problem?
A) Dynamic Programming.
B) Greedy Approach.
C) Sliding Window.
D) Divide and Conquer.
Question 3: Window Expansion
How is the sliding window typically expanded in this problem?
A) By moving the left pointer to the right.
B) By moving the right pointer to the right.
C) By expanding from the middle.
D) The window size is fixed.
Question 4: Window Shrinkage Condition
Under what condition should the sliding window be shrunk (by moving the left pointer)?
A) When the window contains more than k distinct characters.
B) When the number of characters that are not the most frequent character in the window
exceeds k.
C) When the window size exceeds a certain limit.
D) When the right pointer goes out of bounds.
Question 5: Tracking Character Counts
How are the counts of characters within the current window typically maintained?
A) Using a hash map or an array to store the frequency of each character.
B) By iterating through the window each time.
C) By storing only the count of the most frequent character.
D) By using a set to store the unique characters in the window.
Minimum Window Substring - LeetCode #76
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Minimum Window Substring" problem?
A) Find the longest substring of string S that contains all characters of string T.
B) Find the shortest substring of string S that contains all characters of string T.
C) Find if string T is a substring of string S.
D) Count the number of substrings of string S that contain all characters of string T.
Question 2: Sliding Window Technique
Which algorithmic technique is commonly used to solve this problem?
A) Dynamic Programming.
B) Greedy Approach.
C) Sliding Window.
D) Divide and Conquer.
Question 3: Maintaining Character Frequencies
How are the required character frequencies from string T typically tracked?
A) Using a hash set of characters in T.
B) Using a hash map (or array) to store the frequency of each character in T.
C) By sorting string T and comparing substrings of S.
D) By using a single counter for all characters in T.
Question 4: Expanding and Shrinking the Window
How is the sliding window in string S expanded and shrunk?
A) Expand by moving the right pointer, shrink by moving the left pointer.
B) Expand by moving both pointers right, shrink by moving both pointers left.
C) Expand by moving the left pointer, shrink by moving the right pointer.
D) The window size remains constant.
Question 5: Checking if the Window is Valid
How is it determined if the current window in string S contains all the characters of string T
with the required frequencies?
A) By comparing the length of the window with the length of T.
B) By maintaining a count of matched characters and comparing it with the length of T.
C) By checking if all characters of T are present in a hash set of the window's characters.
D) By sorting the window and comparing it with the sorted version of T.
Valid Anagram - LeetCode #242
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Valid Anagram" problem?
A) To check if two strings are palindromes of each other.
B) To check if one string is a rotation of the other.
C) To check if two strings contain the same characters with the same frequencies.
D) To check if one string is a substring of the other.
Question 2: Approach to Solving
What is a common and efficient way to determine if two strings are anagrams?
A) Check if the lengths of the two strings are equal. If so, sort both strings and compare
them.
B) Check if the lengths of the two strings are equal. If so, compare the first and last
characters of both strings.
C) Check if the lengths of the two strings are equal. If so, check if all vowels are present in
both strings.
D) Compare the ASCII values of the characters in both strings.
Question 3: Using Character Counts
Another common approach involves using character counts. How is this typically
implemented?
A) Create a hash set for each string and compare them.
B) Create a hash map (or an array of size 26 for lowercase English letters) to store the
frequency of each character in both strings and then compare the frequency maps.
C) Count the total number of characters in each string and compare the counts.
D) Check if the first character of one string is present in the other string.
Question 4: Time and Space Complexity
What is the time and space complexity of the approach involving sorting the strings?
A) Time: O(n), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(n log n), Space: O(log n) or O(n) depending on the sorting algorithm.
C) Time: O(n^2), Space: O(1)
D) Time: O(log n), Space: O(log n).
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity (Character Counts)
What is the time and space complexity of the approach using character counts (with a fixed
size array for character frequencies)?
A) Time: O(n log n), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(n), Space: O(n)
C) Time: O(n), Space: O(1) (assuming a constant alphabet size).
D) Time: O(n^2), Space: O(n).
Group Anagrams - LeetCode #49
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Group Anagrams" problem?
A) To sort a given list of strings alphabetically.
B) To find all pairs of anagrams within a given list of strings.
C) To group the anagrams together in a given list of strings.
D) To count the number of anagrams in a given list of strings.
Question 2: Identifying Anagrams
How can one determine if two words are anagrams of each other?
A) By checking if they have the same length.
B) By checking if they contain the same vowels.
C) By checking if they have the same characters with the same frequencies (as in the "Valid
Anagram" problem).
D) By checking if one word is the reverse of the other.
Question 3: Using a Canonical Form
What is a common technique to group anagrams together efficiently?
A) Sort each word to create a canonical form (a unique representation for all anagrams of a
word), and then use this form as a key in a hash map to group the original words.
B) Compare each word with every other word in the list to check if they are anagrams.
C) Use a Trie to store all the words.
D) Group words based on their length.
Question 4: Creating the Canonical Form
How is the canonical form of a word typically created?
A) By reversing the word.
B) By converting the word to uppercase.
C) By sorting the characters of the word alphabetically.
D) By removing all duplicate characters from the word.
Question 5: Storing and Retrieving Groups
What data structure is commonly used to store the groups of anagrams, using the canonical
form as the key?
A) A stack where each element is a list of anagrams.
B) A queue where each element is a set of anagrams.
C) A hash map (or dictionary) where the keys are the canonical forms and the values are lists
of the original words that correspond to that canonical form.
D) A linked list of lists, where each inner list contains anagrams.
Valid Parentheses - LeetCode #20
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Valid Parentheses" problem?
A) To count the number of opening and closing parentheses in a string.
B) To determine if a string containing parentheses is valid, meaning that parentheses are
correctly matched and nested.
C) To find the longest valid substring of parentheses.
D) To reverse the order of parentheses in a string.
Question 2: Using a Stack
Which data structure is commonly used to solve this problem?
A) Queue.
B) Stack.
C) Hash Map.
D) Set.
Question 3: Processing Opening Parentheses
When an opening parenthesis ('(', '{', or '') is encountered, what is the expected behavior for
the string to be valid?
A) The stack should be empty.
B) The top of the stack should contain the corresponding opening parenthesis, which should
then be popped from the stack.
C) The closing parenthesis should be pushed onto the stack.
D) A counter for the corresponding opening parenthesis should be decremented.
Question 5: Final Check for Validity
After processing the entire string, under what condition is the string considered valid?
A) The stack should be empty.
B) The stack should contain only opening parentheses.
C) The stack should contain only closing parentheses.
D) The stack should have the same number of opening and closing parentheses.
Valid Palindrome - LeetCode #125
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Valid Palindrome" problem?
A) To reverse a given string.
B) To check if a given string reads the same forwards and backward, considering only
alphanumeric characters and ignoring case.
C) To find the longest palindromic substring of a given string.
D) To count the number of palindromic substrings in a given string.
Question 2: Ignoring Non - alphanumeric Characters
What should be done with non - alphanumeric characters (like spaces, punctuation, etc.) in the
input string when checking for a palindrome?
A) They should be included in the comparison.
B) They should be removed or ignored.
C) They should be replaced with alphanumeric characters.
D) They should be converted to a specific character, like 'x'.
Question 3: Case Insensitivity
How should the case of the characters be handled during the palindrome check?
A) Case should be considered (e.g., 'a' is different from 'A').
B) Case should be ignored (e.g., 'a' and 'A' should be considered the same).
C) Only lowercase letters should be considered.
D) Only uppercase letters should be considered.
Question 4: Two- Pointer Approach
What is a common and efficient approach to solve this problem?
A) Using a stack and a queue.
B) Using two pointers, one starting from the beginning of the processed string and the other
from the end, moving towards the center.
C) Using recursion.
D) Sorting the string and comparing it with the original.
Question 5: Comparing Characters
When using the two - pointer approach, what is the condition that determines if the string is
not a palindrome?
A) If the characters at the two pointers are the same.
B) If the characters at the two pointers are different.
C) If one of the pointers goes out of bounds.
D) If the two pointers meet in the middle.
Longest Palindromic Substring - LeetCode #5
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Longest Palindromic Substring" problem?
A) To check if a given string is a palindrome.
B) To find the length of the longest palindromic substring of a given string.
C) To find the actual longest substring of a given string that is a palindrome.
D) To count the number of palindromic substrings in a given string.
Question 2: Approaches to Solving
What are some common approaches to solve this problem?
A) Brute force, dynamic programming, and expanding around the center.
B) Greedy approach and divide and conquer.
C) Sorting and two pointers.
D) Using a stack and a queue.
Question 3: Brute Force Approach
How does the brute force approach typically work?
A) Generate all possible substrings of the given string and check if each substring is a
palindrome, keeping track of the longest one found.
B) Start from the beginning and end of the string and move inwards.
C) Randomly generate substrings and check for palindromes.
D) Check only substrings of odd length.
Question 4: Dynamic Programming Approach
In the dynamic programming approach, what is typically stored in the DP table?
A) The length of the longest palindromic substring ending at each index.
B) A boolean value indicating whether the substring from index i to j is a palindrome.
C) The starting and ending indices of the longest palindromic substring found so far.
D) The number of palindromic substrings ending at each index.
Question 5: Expanding Around the Center Approach
How does the "expand around the center" approach work?
A) Iterate through each character (and the space between characters) of the string and
consider it as the center of a potential palindrome, then expand outwards to find the longest
palindrome centered at that point.
B) Start from the ends of the string and expand inwards.
C) Expand from the first character of the string.
D) Expand only for substrings of odd length.
Palindromic Substrings - LeetCode #647
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Palindromic Substrings" problem?
A) To find the longest palindromic substring.
B) To determine if the entire string is a palindrome.
C) To count the total number of palindromic substrings (including single characters) in a
given string.
D) To find all unique palindromic substrings.
Question 2: Approaches to Solving
Which approaches can be used to solve this problem?
A) Only dynamic programming.
B) Only expanding around the center.
C) Both dynamic programming and expanding around the center are common approaches.
D) Only brute force.
Question 3: Dynamic Programming Approach
In the dynamic programming approach for counting palindromic substrings, what does the
DP state typically represent?
A) The length of the longest palindrome ending at a certain index.
B) Whether the substring from index i to j is a palindrome.
C) The count of palindromes ending at a certain index.
D) The total count of palindromes found so far.
Question 4: Expanding Around the Center Approach
How does the "expand around the center" approach count palindromic substrings?
A) For each possible center (each character and each space between characters), expand
outwards and increment a counter for every palindrome found.
B) Find the longest palindrome and then count all its substrings.
C) Count only palindromes of odd length.
D) Count only palindromes of even length.
Question 5: Base Cases
What are the base cases to consider when counting palindromic substrings?
A) Single characters are always palindromes.
B) Empty strings are not palindromes.
C) Substrings of length 2 need to be checked.
D) All of the above are relevant.
Encode and Decode Strings - LeetCode #271
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Encode and Decode Strings" problem?
A) To compress a list of strings into a shorter string.
B) To design a method to encode a list of strings into a single string and then decode it back
to the original list of strings.
C) To encrypt a list of strings.
D) To sort a list of strings and then concatenate them.
Question 2: Requirements for Encoding and Decoding
What are the key requirements for a valid encoding and decoding scheme?
A) The encoded string should be shorter than the original list of strings.
B) The decoding process should perfectly reconstruct the original list of strings without any
loss or ambiguity.
C) The encoding should be reversible but doesn't need to be unique.
D) The encoding and decoding should be computationally expensive to ensure security.
Question 3: Common Encoding Strategy
What is a common strategy for encoding a list of strings into a single string?
A) Concatenating all strings directly.
B) Joining the strings with a special delimiter.
C) Prefixing each string with its length followed by a delimiter, and then concatenating them.
D) Using a standard compression algorithm like gzip.
Question 4: Example Encoding
If the input list is ["hello", "world"], how might it be encoded using a length - prefixing strategy
with '#' as a delimiter?
A) "5#hello5#world"
B) "hello#world"
C) "hello5world5"
D) "5hello5world#"
Question 5: Decoding Process
How would the encoded string from the previous example be decoded back to the original
list?
A) Split the string by the '#' delimiter.
B) Read the length of the first string, then read that many characters, then read the next
length, and so on.
C) Reverse the encoding process.
D) Look for common words in the encoded string.
Maximum Depth of Binary Tree - LeetCode #104
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Maximum Depth of Binary Tree" problem?
A) To find the number of nodes in the longest path from the root to a leaf node.
B) To find the number of nodes in the tree.
C) To find the longest path between any two nodes in the tree.
D) To find the depth of a specific node in the tree.
Question 2: Recursive Approach
How can the maximum depth of a binary tree be found using recursion?
A) The depth of an empty tree is 0. The depth of a non - empty tree is 1 plus the maximum of
the depths of its left and right subtrees.
B) The depth of an empty tree is - 1. The depth of a non- empty tree is the sum of the depths
of its left and right subtrees.
C) The depth of any tree is simply the number of levels.
D) Recursion cannot be used to find the depth of a binary tree.
Question 3: Iterative Approach (BFS)
How can Breadth - First Search (BFS) be used to find the maximum depth of a binary tree?
A) Perform a level- order traversal and count the number of levels.
B) Perform a BFS and keep track of the maximum number of nodes visited at any level.
C) Perform a BFS and find the node with the largest value.
D) BFS cannot be used to find the depth of a binary tree.
Question 4: Base Case for Recursive Solution
What is the base case for the recursive function to find the maximum depth?
A) When the current node has no children.
B) When the current node is null.
C) When the current node is the root.
D) When the target depth is reached.
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity
What is the time and space complexity of both the recursive and iterative (BFS) solutions for
finding the maximum depth of a binary tree?
A) Time: O(n), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(log n), Space: O(log n)
C) Time: O(n), Space: O(h) where h is the height of the tree (O(log n) for balanced, O(n) for
skewed). For BFS, space can be O(w) where w is the maximum width of the tree.
D) Time: O(n^2), Space: O(n)
Same Tree - LeetCode #100
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Same Tree" problem?
A) To check if two binary trees have the same number of nodes.
B) To check if two binary trees have the same structure and the same values at
corresponding nodes.
C) To check if the values in two binary trees are the same, regardless of structure.
D) To check if one binary tree is a subtree of the other.
Question 2: Recursive Approach
How can the "Same Tree" problem be solved using recursion?
A) Compare the root nodes. If they are the same, recursively compare the left subtrees and
the right subtrees.
B) Traverse both trees simultaneously and compare the nodes.
C) Convert both trees to arrays and compare the arrays.
D) Check if the height of both trees is the same.
Question 3: Base Cases for Recursion
What are the base cases for the recursive function to determine if two trees p and q are the
same?
A) If both p and q are null, they are the same. If one is null and the other is not, they are
different.
B) If the values of the current nodes of p and q are different, they are different.
C) All of the above.
D) If both p and q are not null.
Question 4: Order of Comparison
In the recursive approach, in what order should the comparisons be made?
A) Compare the left subtrees first, then the right subtrees, then the root nodes.
B) Compare the right subtrees first, then the left subtrees, then the root nodes.
C) Compare the root nodes first, then the left subtrees, then the right subtrees.
D) The order of comparison does not matter.
Question 5: Iterative Approach
Can an iterative approach be used to solve the "Same Tree" problem? If so, how?
A) No, only recursion can be used.
B) Yes, using a queue to perform a level- order traversal on both trees simultaneously and
comparing the nodes at each level.
C) Yes, by converting both trees to strings and comparing the strings.
D) Yes, by counting the number of leaf nodes in both trees.
Invert Binary Tree - LeetCode #226
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Invert Binary Tree" problem?
A) To find the mirror image of a binary tree, where the left and right children of all nodes are
swapped.
B) To sort the nodes of a binary tree.
C) To find the height of a binary tree.
D) To check if a binary tree is a mirror of itself.
Question 2: Recursive Approach
How can a binary tree be inverted using recursion?
A) For each node, recursively invert its left and right subtrees, and then swap the left and
right children of the current node.
B) Traverse the tree and swap the values of the left and right children.
C) Recursively invert only the left subtree.
D) Recursively invert only the right subtree.
Question 3: Base Case for Recursion
What is the base case for the recursive function to invert a binary tree?
A) When the current node has no children.
B) When the current node is null.
C) When the current node is the root.
D) When the tree has only one node.
Question 4: Iterative Approach (BFS)
How can Breadth - First Search (BFS) be used to invert a binary tree?
A) Perform a level- order traversal and swap the values of nodes at the same level.
B) Perform a BFS and swap the left and right children of each node as it is visited.
C) BFS cannot be used to invert a binary tree.
D) Perform a BFS and reverse the order of nodes at each level.
Question 5: Iterative Approach (DFS)
How can Depth - First Search (DFS) be used to invert a binary tree?
A) Perform a DFS (e.g., preorder, inorder, or postorder) and swap the left and right children
of each node as it is visited.
B) Perform a DFS and swap the values of nodes visited in a specific order.
C) DFS cannot be used to invert a binary tree.
D) Perform a DFS and reverse the order of nodes visited.
Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum - LeetCode #124
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum" problem?
A) To find the path from the root to a leaf with the maximum sum.
B) To find the maximum sum of any path in the tree, where a path can start and end at any
node.
C) To find the maximum sum of a path that includes the root node.
D) To find the sum of all nodes in the tree.
Question 2: Recursion and Subproblems
How can recursion be used to solve this problem?
A) For each node, find the maximum path sum in its left and right subtrees and combine
them.
B) Define a recursive function that returns the maximum path sum ending at the current
node, and use this to update a global maximum path sum.
C) Recursively find the maximum path sum in the left and right halves of the tree.
D) Recursion is not suitable for this problem.
Question 3: Maximum Path Sum Ending at a Node
When considering a node, what are the possibilities for the maximum path sum that includes
this node and extends to its subtree?
A) The node's value itself.
B) The node's value plus the maximum path sum ending at its left child.
C) The node's value plus the maximum path sum ending at its right child.
D) Any of the above.
Question 4: Updating the Overall Maximum
How is the overall maximum path sum (which might not pass through the root) tracked during
the recursive process?
A) By returning the overall maximum from the recursive function.
B) By using a global variable (or a variable passed by reference) to store and update the
maximum sum found so far.
C) The maximum path sum always passes through the root.
D) The maximum path sum is the sum of all positive nodes.
Question 5: Handling Negative Node Values
How should negative node values be handled when calculating the maximum path sum?
A) Negative values should be ignored.
B) Negative values can contribute to a path sum, but a path might be better off not including
them if they decrease the sum.
C) All negative values should be made positive before calculating the sum.
D) The maximum path sum will always be positive.
Binary Tree Level Order Traversal - LeetCode #102
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Binary Tree Level Order Traversal" problem?
A) To traverse the tree in preorder (root, left, right).
B) To traverse the tree in inorder (left, root, right).
C) To traverse the tree level by level, from top to bottom, and from left to right at each level.
D) To traverse the tree in postorder (left, right, root).
Question 2: Breadth - First Search (BFS)
Which graph traversal algorithm is typically used to perform a level order traversal of a binary
tree?
A) Depth- First Search (DFS).
B) Breadth- First Search (BFS).
C) Inorder Traversal.
D) Postorder Traversal.
Question 3: Using a Queue
What data structure is essential for implementing the Breadth - First Search (BFS) for level
order traversal?
A) Stack.
B) Queue.
C) Priority Queue.
D) Hash Set.
Question 4: Processing Nodes at Each Level
How are the nodes at each level processed and grouped together in the result?
A) By iterating through the queue until it's empty, all nodes are at the same level.
B) By keeping track of the number of nodes added to the queue at the beginning of each
level and processing exactly that many nodes before moving to the next level.
C) By using recursion to visit all nodes at the same depth.
D) By sorting the nodes based on their depth.
Question 5: Output Format
What is the expected output format for the level order traversal?
A) A single list containing all nodes in the order they are visited.
B) A list of lists, where each inner list contains the nodes at one level of the tree.
C) A list of lists, where each inner list contains the nodes along one path from the root to a
leaf.
D) A list containing the values of the nodes in reverse level order.
Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree - LeetCode #297
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree" problem?
A) To convert a binary tree into a string representation (serialization) and then reconstruct
the original tree from the string (deserialization).
B) To compress a binary tree into a smaller data structure.
C) To encrypt a binary tree.
D) To convert a binary tree into an array representation.
Question 2: Serialization Approach
Which tree traversal method is commonly used as the basis for serialization?
A) Inorder traversal.
B) Postorder traversal.
C) Preorder traversal or Level - order traversal.
D) Any traversal method works equally well.
Question 3: Handling Null Nodes
Why is it important to represent null nodes in the serialized string?
A) To reduce the length of the string.
B) To preserve the structure of the tree during deserialization, especially for non - complete
trees.
C) To indicate the end of the tree.
D) Null nodes don't need to be represented.
Question 4: Example Serialization (Preorder with '#' for null)
If a tree has root 1, left child 2, and right child null, what would be a possible preorder
serialization?
A) "1,2,#"
B) "1,#,2"
C) "2,1,#"
D) "#,1,2"
Question 5: Deserialization Process
How is the serialized string typically used to reconstruct the binary tree?
A) By parsing the string and using the traversal order to create nodes and their relationships,
often using recursion or a queue.
B) By directly mapping the string characters to node values.
C) By sorting the string and building a balanced tree.
D) By using a hash map to store the node values and their positions.
Subtree of Another Tree - LeetCode #572
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Subtree of Another Tree" problem?
A) To check if two binary trees are identical.
B) To check if a binary tree t is a subtree of another binary tree s. A subtree of s is a tree
consisting of a node in s and all of its descendants.
C) To find the number of subtrees of s that are identical to t.
D) To find the largest common subtree between s and t.
Question 2: Recursive Approach
How can recursion be used to solve this problem?
A) For each node in s, check if the subtree rooted at that node is identical to t.
B) Recursively check if t is a subtree of the left or right subtree of s.
C) Both A and B.
D) Recursion cannot be used for this problem.
Question 3: Helper Function for Identical Trees
What helper function is typically needed in the recursive solution?
A) A function to find the height of a tree.
B) A function to check if two trees are identical (like the solution to the "Same Tree" problem).
C) A function to count the number of nodes in a tree.
D) A function to invert a tree.
Question 4: Base Cases for the Main Recursive Function
What should be the base cases for the main recursive function that checks if t is a subtree of
s?
A) If t is null, it is always a subtree. If s is null but t is not, then t cannot be a subtree of s.
B) If the current node of s is equal to the root of t, check if the subtrees rooted at these
nodes are identical.
C) Continue the search in the left and right subtrees of s.
D) All of the above.
Question 5: Optimization using String Serialization
Can string serialization be used to solve this problem? If so, how?
A) Yes, serialize both trees into strings. Then, check if the serialized string of t is a substring
of the serialized string of s. Special care needs to be taken to handle the structure (e.g., by
including null markers).
B) Yes, serialize both trees and compare the lengths of the strings.
C) No, string serialization cannot preserve the subtree relationship accurately.
D) Only if the trees contain unique values.
Construct Binary Tree from Preorder and Inorder Traversal -
LeetCode #105
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Construct Binary Tree from Preorder and Inorder Traversal"
problem?
A) To perform a preorder and inorder traversal of a given tree.
B) To check if two given traversals correspond to the same binary tree.
C) To reconstruct a binary tree given its preorder and inorder traversal sequences.
D) To find the height of the binary tree given its traversals.
Question 2: Role of Preorder Traversal
What information does the preorder traversal provide about the structure of the tree?
A) The first element in the preorder traversal is always the root of the tree (or subtree).
B) The elements in the preorder traversal are visited in sorted order for a BST.
C) The last element in the preorder traversal is always a leaf node.
D) The preorder traversal gives the height of the tree.
Question 3: Role of Inorder Traversal
What information does the inorder traversal provide about the structure of the tree?
A) The first element in the inorder traversal is always the root of the tree.
B) For any root node, all elements to its left in the inorder traversal belong to its left subtree,
and all elements to its right belong to its right subtree.
C) The last element in the inorder traversal is always the root of the tree.
D) The inorder traversal gives the leaves of the tree in order.
Question 4: Recursive Construction
How is the binary tree typically constructed recursively using the preorder and inorder
traversals?
A) Use the first element of the preorder traversal as the root. Find this element in the inorder
traversal to determine the left and right subtrees. Recursively build the left and right subtrees
using the remaining elements of the traversals.
B) Use the last element of the preorder traversal as the root.
C) Use the middle element of the inorder traversal as the root.
D) Iterate through both traversals simultaneously and create nodes as needed.
Question 5: Identifying Subtree Boundaries
How are the boundaries of the left and right subtrees determined in the inorder traversal
based on the root element from the preorder traversal?
A) All elements in the inorder traversal before the root belong to the left subtree, and all
elements after the root belong to the right subtree.
B) The left subtree always contains half the elements, and the right subtree contains the
other half.
C) The boundaries are determined by the values of the children in the preorder traversal.
D) The boundaries cannot be determined from preorder and inorder traversals alone.
Validate Binary Search Tree - LeetCode #98
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Validate Binary Search Tree" problem?
A) To check if a binary tree is balanced.
B) To check if all nodes in a binary tree are sorted.
C) To determine if a given binary tree satisfies the properties of a Binary Search Tree (BST).
D) To convert a binary tree into a BST.
Question 2: BST Properties
What are the defining properties of a Binary Search Tree (BST)?
A) For every node, the value of its left child is greater, and the value of its right child is
smaller.
B) For every node, the value of its left child is smaller, and the value of its right child is
greater.
C) For every node, the values in its left subtree are all smaller than or equal to its value, and
the values in its right subtree are all greater than or equal to its value.
D) For every node, the height difference between its left and right subtrees is at most 1.
Question 3: Recursive Approach with Range
How can recursion be used to validate if a binary tree is a BST?
A) For each node, check if its value is greater than the maximum value in its left subtree and
smaller than the minimum value in its right subtree.
B) For each node, recursively check if its left child's value is less than the current node's value
and its right child's value is greater than the current node's value, while also maintaining a
valid range for each subtree.
C) Perform an inorder traversal and check if the resulting sequence of node values is sorted
in ascending order.
D) Check if the height of the left and right subtrees is balanced for every node.
Question 4: Initial Range for Root
When using the recursive approach with a range (min and max values), what is the initial
range for the root of the entire tree?
A) There is no initial range.
B) The initial range is from negative infinity to positive infinity (or the equivalent minimum and
maximum representable values).
C) The initial range is determined by the value of the root node itself.
D) The initial range is from 0 to 1000 (assuming node values are within this range).
Question 5: Iterative Approach using Inorder Traversal
How can an iterative inorder traversal be used to validate a BST?
A) Perform an inorder traversal and store the visited node values in a list. Then, check if the list is sorted in
ascending order.
B) Perform an inorder traversal and check if each node's value is greater than the value of the previously visited
node.
C) Perform any traversal (preorder, inorder, or postorder) and check if the values are within the allowed range.
D) An iterative approach using inorder traversal cannot be used to validate a BST.
Kth Smallest Element in a BST - LeetCode #230
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Kth Smallest Element in a BST" problem?
A) To find the kth largest element in a BST.
B) To find the element at the kth level of a BST.
C) To find the kth smallest value among all the nodes in a given Binary Search Tree (BST).
D) To count the number of elements smaller than k in a BST.
Question 2: Inorder Traversal
Which tree traversal method visits the nodes of a BST in ascending order?
A) Preorder traversal.
B) Inorder traversal.
C) Postorder traversal.
D) Level- order traversal.
Question 3: Recursive Approach using Inorder Traversal
How can a recursive inorder traversal be used to find the kth smallest element?
A) Perform an inorder traversal and store all the node values in a list. The kth element of the
list will be the answer.
B) Perform an inorder traversal and maintain a counter. When the counter reaches k, the
current node's value is the answer.
C) Perform a preorder traversal and find the kth element.
D) Perform a level- order traversal and find the kth element.
Question 4: Iterative Approach using Inorder Traversal
How can an iterative inorder traversal (using a stack) be used to find the kth smallest
element?
A) Simulate the recursive inorder traversal using a stack. Keep track of the number of nodes
visited. When the count reaches k, the value of the current node popped from the stack is the
answer.
B) Push all nodes onto the stack and pop the kth element.
C) Perform a reverse inorder traversal and find the kth element.
D) Use a queue to store the nodes and retrieve the kth element.
Question 5: Optimization for Frequent Queries
If there are frequent queries to find the kth smallest element, what additional information can
be stored in each node to optimize this operation?
A) The height of the subtree rooted at that node.
B) The number of nodes in the subtree rooted at that node.
C) The minimum and maximum values in the subtree.
D) The depth of the node.
Lowest Common Ancestor of a BST - LeetCode #235
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Lowest Common Ancestor of a BST" problem?
A) To find the highest common descendant of two nodes in a BST.
B) To find the lowest node in a BST that has two given nodes as descendants (including
themselves).
C) To find the shortest path between two nodes in a BST.
D) To check if two nodes exist in a BST.
Question 2: BST Properties for LCA
How can the properties of a Binary Search Tree (BST) be used to find the LCA efficiently?
A) If both nodes p and q are smaller than the current node, their LCA must be in the left
subtree. If both are larger, their LCA must be in the right subtree. Otherwise, the current
node is the LCA.
B) The LCA is always the root of the BST.
C) The LCA is always one of the two given nodes.
D) Perform an inorder traversal and find the first common ancestor.
Question 3: Recursive Approach
How can recursion be used to find the LCA of two nodes p and q in a BST?
A) Start from the root. If the root's value is between p's and q's values (inclusive), then the
root is the LCA. Otherwise, recursively search in the left or right subtree as appropriate.
B) Recursively find the paths from the root to p and q, and then find the last common node in
these paths.
C) Traverse the tree and keep track of the parent of each node.
D) Recursively check if p is in the left subtree and q is in the right subtree, or vice versa.
Question 4: Iterative Approach
How can an iterative approach be used to find the LCA of two nodes p and q in a BST?
A) Start from the root. While the current node is not the LCA, move to the left if both p and q
are smaller, or to the right if both are larger.
B) Perform a level- order traversal and keep track of the ancestors of p and q.
C) Use a stack to simulate the recursive approach.
D) Iterate through all nodes and check if they are ancestors of both p and q.
Question 5: Handling Cases where p or q is the LCA
How does the algorithm correctly handle the case where one of the nodes (p or q) is the LCA
of the other and itself?
A) The condition "root.val > p.val and root.val < q.val" (or similar for the other order) naturally
includes the case where root.val equals p.val or q.val.
B) A special check is needed at the end to see if either p or q was the last common ancestor
found.
C) This case requires a separate algorithm.
D) The problem statement guarantees that p and q are distinct and will not be the LCA of them
Implement Queue using Stacks - LeetCode #232
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Implement Queue using Stacks" problem?
A) To implement a stack data structure using queues.
B) To simulate the behavior of a queue using one or more stack data structures.
C) To create a new data structure that combines the properties of both stacks and queues.
D) To sort elements using stacks.
Question 2: Core Queue Operations
What are the fundamental operations of a queue that need to be implemented?
A) Push, pop, top, empty.
B) Enqueue (add to back), dequeue (remove from front), peek (get front), empty.
C) Add, remove, get, size.
D) Insert, delete, find, isEmpty.
Question 3: Using Two Stacks
What is a common approach to implement a queue using two stacks?
A) One stack for enqueue operations and the other for dequeue operations. Elements are
moved between the stacks as needed.
B) Both stacks are used for both enqueue and dequeue operations simultaneously.
C) One stack stores the elements in the correct order, and the other is used as a temporary
buffer.
D) Two stacks are used to store even and odd indexed elements separately.
Question 4: Enqueue Operation (Two Stacks)
In a two- stack implementation, which stack is typically used for the enqueue operation?
A) The stack designated for dequeue operations.
B) The stack designated for enqueue operations.
C) Elements are pushed onto both stacks.
D) Elements are pushed onto the stack that has fewer elements.
Question 5: Dequeue Operation (Two Stacks)
In a two- stack implementation, how is the dequeue operation performed?
A) Pop from the enqueue stack.
B) If the dequeue stack is empty, transfer all elements from the enqueue stack to the
dequeue stack (reversing their order), then pop from the dequeue stack. If the dequeue stack
is not empty, simply pop from it.
C) Pop from both stacks and compare the top elements.
D) The dequeue operation is not possible with two stacks.
Implement Stack using Queues - LeetCode #225
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Implement Stack using Queues" problem?
A) To implement a queue data structure using stacks.
B) To simulate the behavior of a stack using one or more queue data structures.
C) To create a new data structure that combines the properties of both stacks and queues.
D) To sort elements using queues.
Question 2: Core Stack Operations
What are the fundamental operations of a stack that need to be implemented?
A) Enqueue, dequeue, peek, empty.
B) Push (add to top), pop (remove from top), top (get top), empty.
C) Add, remove, get, size.
D) Insert, delete, find, isEmpty.
Question 3: Using One Queue
How can a stack be implemented using a single queue?
A) Elements are enqueued and dequeued in the standard FIFO order, simulating LIFO.
B) When pushing an element, enqueue it. When popping, dequeue all but the last element and
then dequeue and return the last one.
C) Use the queue as a temporary storage and reverse its order for each operation.
D) A single queue cannot be used to implement a stack.
Question 4: Using Two Queues
What is another common approach to implement a stack using two queues?
A) Elements are pushed onto one queue. The other queue is used as a temporary buffer to
reverse the order for pop and top operations.
B) Elements are pushed onto both queues simultaneously.
C) One queue stores the elements, and the other stores the order of insertion.
D) Two queues are used to store even and odd indexed elements separately.
Question 5: Push Operation (Two Queues)
In a two- queue implementation, which queue is typically used for the push operation?
A) Elements are pushed onto both queues.
B) Elements are always pushed onto the non - empty queue.
C) Elements are always pushed onto the queue that was last used for a pop operation.
D) Elements are typically pushed onto one of the queues (say, queue1).
Min Stack - LeetCode #155
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Min Stack" problem?
A) To implement a stack that can only store non - negative integers.
B) To implement a stack that supports the standard push, pop, and top operations, as well as
a method to retrieve the minimum element in the stack in constant time.
C) To implement a stack that automatically sorts its elements.
D) To implement a stack where elements can be accessed by their index.
Question 2: Requirement for getMin()
What is the key performance requirement for the getMin() operation?
A) It should have a time complexity of O(n).
B) It should have a time complexity of O(log n).
C) It should have a time complexity of O(1).
D) Its time complexity does not matter.
Question 3: Using an Auxiliary Stack
What is a common approach to achieve O(1) time complexity for getMin()?
A) Store the minimum element in a separate variable that is updated during push and pop
operations.
B) Use an auxiliary stack to keep track of the minimum elements encountered so far.
C) Sort the stack after each push operation.
D) Iterate through the stack each time getMin() is called.
Question 4: How the Auxiliary Stack Works
In the approach using an auxiliary stack, what does this stack typically store?
A) All the elements of the original stack in sorted order.
B) Only the minimum element encountered so far.
C) A sequence of minimum elements, where the top of the auxiliary stack is the current
minimum in the main stack.
D) The differences between consecutive elements in the main stack.
Question 5: Updating the Auxiliary Stack
When an element is pushed onto the main stack, how is the auxiliary stack updated?
A) The new element is always pushed onto the auxiliary stack.
B) The new element is pushed onto the auxiliary stack only if it is less than or equal to the
current minimum (top of the auxiliary stack).
C) The auxiliary stack is not updated during push operations.
D) The new element is pushed onto the auxiliary stack only if it is greater than the current
maximum.
Evaluate Reverse Polish Notation - LeetCode #150
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Evaluate Reverse Polish Notation" problem?
A) To convert an infix expression to Reverse Polish Notation (RPN).
B) To evaluate an arithmetic expression given in Reverse Polish Notation (RPN).
C) To check if a given expression is in valid RPN format.
D) To simplify an arithmetic expression.
Question 2: Reverse Polish Notation (RPN)
In Reverse Polish Notation, where do the operators appear relative to their operands?
A) Before the operands (prefix notation).
B) Between the operands (infix notation).
C) After the operands (postfix notation).
D) Operators and operands are mixed randomly.
Question 3: Using a Stack for Evaluation
Which data structure is most suitable for evaluating an RPN expression?
A) Queue.
B) Stack.
C) Hash Map.
D) Tree.
Question 4: Processing Operands and Operators
How are operands and operators processed during the evaluation of an RPN expression using
a stack?
A) When an operand is encountered, it is pushed onto the stack. When an operator is
encountered, the top two operands are popped from the stack, the operation is performed,
and the result is pushed back onto the stack.
B) Operands are pushed onto the stack, and operators are ignored until the end.
C) Operators are pushed onto the stack, and operands are ignored.
D) The expression is evaluated from left to right without using a stack.
Question 5: Final Result
After processing the entire RPN expression, where is the final result of the evaluation stored?
A) At the beginning of the stack.
B) At the top of the stack.
C) At the bottom of the stack.
D) In a separate variable.
Generate Parentheses - LeetCode #22
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Generate Parentheses" problem?
A) To check if a given string of parentheses is valid.
B) To generate all possible valid combinations of n pairs of parentheses.
C) To find the longest valid substring of parentheses.
D) To count the number of valid parentheses strings of length n.
Question 2: Algorithmic Approach
Which algorithmic technique is commonly used to generate all valid combinations?
A) Dynamic Programming.
B) Greedy Approach.
C) Backtracking (Recursion).
D) Iteration with a queue.
Question 3: Constraints for Valid Combinations
What are the key constraints that must be satisfied for a string of parentheses to be
considered valid?
A) The total number of opening parentheses must equal the total number of closing
parentheses, and at no point should the number of closing parentheses exceed the number
of opening parentheses when reading from left to right.
B) The parentheses must be of different types (e.g., one opening and one closing).
C) The parentheses must be nested exactly n times.
D) The parentheses must form a balanced binary tree structure.
Question 4: Backtracking Logic
In the backtracking approach, what is the state being tracked during the recursive calls?
A) The current string of parentheses being built, the number of open parentheses used so
far, and the number of close parentheses used so far.
B) The length of the current string and the number of remaining pairs of parentheses.
C) The current index in the string and the last added parenthesis.
D) The number of valid pairs found so far.
Question 5: Base Case for Recursion
What is the base case for the recursive function to stop generating parentheses?
A) When the length of the current string is equal to 2n (where n is the number of pairs).
B) When the number of open parentheses equals n.
C) When the number of close parentheses equals n.
D) When both the number of open and close parentheses used equals n.
Daily Temperatures - LeetCode #739
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Daily Temperatures" problem?
A) To find the maximum temperature for each day.
B) To find, for each day, the number of days one has to wait until a warmer temperature.
C) To sort the temperatures in ascending order.
D) To find the days with the highest temperature.
Question 2: Approach to Solving
Which data structure is commonly used to solve this problem efficiently?
A) Queue.
B) Stack.
C) Hash Map.
D) Linked List.
Question 3: Using a Stack
What is typically stored in the stack during the traversal of the temperatures array?
A) The temperatures themselves.
B) The indices of the days.
C) Pairs of (temperature, index).
D) The number of days waited so far.
Question 4: Logic of Stack Operations
How are elements pushed onto and popped from the stack?
A) Push the current day's index onto the stack. While the stack is not empty and the
temperature of the day at the top of the stack is less than the current day's temperature, pop
the index from the stack and calculate the waiting days.
B) Push temperatures onto the stack and pop when a colder temperature is encountered.
C) Push indices onto the stack and pop when the index difference reaches a certain value.
D) The stack is only used to store the final result.
Question 5: Initializing the Result Array
How is the result array (which stores the number of waiting days for each day) typically
initialized?
A) With all zeros.
B) With all ones.
C) With the index of the next day.
D) With the temperature of the next day.
Car Fleet - LeetCode #853
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Car Fleet" problem?
A) To find the total time taken for all cars to reach the destination.
B) To find the minimum number of cars needed to reach the destination.
C) To determine the number of car fleets that will arrive at the destination. A car fleet is a
group of one or more cars that are moving together at the same speed.
D) To find the average speed of all cars.
Question 2: Determining Arrival Times
What is the first step to determine which cars will form a fleet?
A) Sort the cars by their initial speed.
B) Sort the cars by their initial position.
C) Calculate the arrival time for each car if it travels at its initial speed without any
interference.
D) Calculate the distance each car needs to travel.
Question 3: Sorting Cars
Based on what criteria should the cars be sorted after calculating their arrival times?
A) By their initial speed in ascending order.
B) By their initial position in ascending order (farthest cars first or closest cars first).
C) By their calculated arrival times in ascending or descending order.
D) No sorting is necessary.
Question 4: Identifying Fleets
How can the sorted arrival times be used to identify car fleets?
A) If a car arrives later than the car ahead of it, it will form a new fleet (or be part of a fleet
that forms later).
B) If cars have the same arrival time, they are in the same fleet.
C) If a car's speed is higher than the car ahead, they will eventually form a fleet.
D) The number of fleets is simply the number of cars.
Question 5: Counting Fleets
How is the total number of car fleets counted?
A) By counting the number of cars that reach the destination.
B) By iterating through the sorted arrival times and incrementing a counter each time a car
arrives at or after the arrival time of the preceding car in the same direction.
C) By counting the number of distinct arrival times.
D) By finding the car with the slowest speed.
Largest Rectangle in Histogram - LeetCode #84
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Largest Rectangle in Histogram" problem?
A) To find the height of the tallest bar in the histogram.
B) To find the area of the smallest rectangle that can enclose the histogram.
C) To find the area of the largest rectangle that can be formed within the histogram.
D) To count the number of rectangles in the histogram.
Question 2: Brute Force Approach
How would a brute force approach to this problem work?
A) Iterate through all possible pairs of bars as the left and right boundaries of a rectangle,
and for each pair, find the minimum height within that range and calculate the area.
B) Find the tallest bar and consider rectangles centered at that bar.
C) Calculate the area of every bar individually.
D) Sort the bars by height and calculate areas.
Question 3: Optimization using a Stack
Which data structure is commonly used to optimize the solution to achieve a better time
complexity?
A) Queue.
B) Stack.
C) Hash Map.
D) Linked List.
Question 4: What the Stack Stores
What does the stack typically store during the traversal of the histogram bars?
A) The heights of the bars.
B) The indices of the bars.
C) Pairs of (height, index).
D) The areas of rectangles found so far.
Question 5: Logic of Stack Operations
How are elements pushed onto and popped from the stack?
A) Push the index of the current bar onto the stack. While the stack is not empty and the
height of the bar at the index at the top of the stack is greater than or equal to the current
bar's height, pop the index and calculate the area of the rectangle end ing at the current bar.
B) Push heights onto the stack and pop when a taller bar is encountered.
C) Push indices onto the stack and pop when the index difference reaches a certain value.
D) The stack is only used to store the final result.
Search a 2D Matrix - LeetCode #74
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Search a 2D Matrix" problem?
A) To find the maximum element in the matrix.
B) To sort the elements of the matrix.
C) To determine if a given target value exists in a 2D matrix where each row is sorted, and the
first integer of each row is greater than the last integer of the previous row.
D) To find the shortest path from the top - left to the bottom - right of the matrix.
Question 2: Treating as a 1D Sorted Array
Due to the sorted nature of the rows and the relationship between consecutive rows, how
can this 2D matrix be viewed conceptually for searching purposes?
A) As a collection of unsorted lists.
B) As a single sorted 1D array.
C) As a binary search tree.
D) As a graph.
Question 3: Mapping 1D Index to 2D Coordinates
If the matrix has m rows and n columns, how can a 1D index mid (obtained from binary
search) be mapped back to the corresponding row and column indices in the 2D matrix?
A) row = mid / n, col = mid % n
B) row = mid % n, col = mid / n
C) row = mid / m, col = mid % m
D) row = mid % m, col = mid / m
Question 4: Applying Binary Search
How can the Binary Search algorithm be applied to this 2D matrix using the 1D view?
A) Perform binary search on each row independently.
B) Perform binary search on each column independently.
C) Treat the matrix as a single sorted array of size m * n and apply standard binary search
using the mapping between 1D index and 2D coordinates.
D) Apply a 2D version of binary search.
Question 5: Time and Space Complexity
What is the time and space complexity of searching for a target in this type of 2D matrix using
the optimized approach?
A) Time: O(m * n), Space: O(1)
B) Time: O(m + n), Space: O(1)
C) Time: O(log(m * n)), Space: O(1)
D) Time: O(n log m), Space: O(1)
Kth Largest Element in an Array - LeetCode #215
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Kth Largest Element in an Array" problem?
A) To find the kth smallest element in the array.
B) To find the element that would be at the kth position if the array were sorted in ascending
order.
C) To find the element that would be at the kth position if the array were sorted in
descending order.
D) To find the element that appears k times in the array.
Question 2: Sorting Approach
What is a straightforward way to solve this problem?
A) Find the maximum element k times.
B) Sort the array in ascending order and return the element at index n - k (where n is the
length of the array).
C) Sort the array in descending order and return the element at index k - 1.
D) Find the minimum element k times.
Question 3: Quickselect Algorithm
What is a more efficient algorithm, on average, to solve this problem without fully sorting the
array?
A) Merge Sort.
B) Quick Sort.
C) Quickselect (related to Quick Sort).
D) Heap Sort.
Question 4: Using a Min- Heap
How can a min- heap be used to find the kth largest element?
A) Insert all elements into the min - heap. Then, extract the minimum element k times; the last
extracted element will be the kth largest.
B) Insert all elements into the min - heap. The root of the heap will be the kth largest.
C) Maintain a min- heap of size k. For each element in the array, if it's larger than the root of
the heap, replace the root with this element and heapify. After processing all elements, the
root of the heap will be the kth largest.
D) Insert the first k elements into a min - heap. Then, for the remaining elements, if an element
is smaller than the root, ignore it. Otherwise, replace the root and heapify.
Question 5: Time Complexity Comparison
What is the average time complexity of the Quickselect algorithm and the min - heap approach
for finding the kth largest element?
A) Quickselect: O(n log n), Min- Heap: O(n log k)
B) Quickselect: O(n), Min- Heap: O(n log n)
C) Quickselect: O(n), Min- Heap: O(n log k)
D) Quickselect: O(n log n), Min- Heap: O(n)
Find Median from Data Stream - LeetCode #295
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Find Median from Data Stream" problem?
A) To sort the incoming stream of numbers.
B) To find the maximum and minimum elements in the data stream.
C) To design a data structure that can efficiently add numbers from a stream and provide the
median of the numbers seen so far.
D) To calculate the average of the numbers in the data stream.
Question 2: Median Definition
How is the median defined for a set of numbers?
A) The average of all numbers.
B) The middle number when the numbers are sorted. If there is an even number of elements,
it is the average of the two middle numbers.
C) The most frequently occurring number.
D) The first number in the sorted set.
Question 3: Using Heaps
Which data structures are commonly used to solve this problem efficiently?
A) A single min- heap.
B) A single max- heap.
C) Two heaps: a min- heap to store the larger half of the numbers and a max - heap to store
the smaller half.
D) A balanced binary search tree.
Question 4: Maintaining Heap Sizes
When using two heaps (min and max), how are their sizes typically maintained to ensure
balance and allow for easy median calculation?
A) The sizes of the two heaps should always be equal.
B) The size of the min- heap should always be greater than the size of the max - heap.
C) The sizes should be as close as possible, with at most a difference of 1. The max - heap
stores the smaller half (at most equal size to min - heap), and the min - heap stores the larger
half.
D) The sizes can vary arbitrarily.
Question 5: Calculating the Median
How is the median calculated using the two heaps?
A) The median is always the root of the min - heap.
B) The median is always the root of the max - heap.
C) If the sizes of the heaps are equal, the median is the average of the roots of the max - heap
and the min - heap. If the sizes are different, the median is the root of the larger heap.
D) The median is the average of the smallest element in the min - heap and the largest
element in the max - heap.
Task Scheduler - LeetCode #621
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Task Scheduler" problem?
A) To find the minimum time to execute all tasks given a cooldown period n between tasks of
the same type.
B) To find the maximum number of tasks that can be executed within a given time.
C) To schedule the tasks in alphabetical order.
D) To group tasks of the same type together.
Question 2: Greedy Approach based on Frequency
A greedy approach based on the frequency of tasks is often used. What is the intuition
behind this?
A) Prioritize tasks with the shortest cooldown period.
B) Prioritize tasks with the highest frequency to ensure they get executed as soon as possible
and don't delay other tasks due to the cooldown.
C) Execute tasks in the order they are given.
D) Randomly schedule the tasks.
Question 3: Calculating Idle Slots
How can the number of idle slots be calculated based on the most frequent task?
A) Find the frequency of the most frequent task (say, max_freq). The number of idle slots can
be estimated as (max_freq - 1) * n.
B) Count the number of tasks with frequency less than max_freq.
C) The number of idle slots is always equal to n.
D) Idle slots are not needed.
Question 4: Handling Multiple Most Frequent Tasks
If there are multiple tasks with the same highest frequency, how does this affect the
calculation of idle slots?
A) The number of idle slots remains the same.
B) The number of idle slots needs to be reduced based on the number of such tasks. For
example, if there are m tasks with the highest frequency, the number of idle slots might be
(max_freq - 1) * (n - (m - 1)).
C) The cooldown period n needs to be increased.
D) These tasks must be executed consecutively.
Question 5: Final Calculation of Total Time
How is the minimum total time to execute all tasks calculated?
A) It's simply the total number of tasks.
B) It's the sum of the number of tasks and the number of calculated idle slots (but not less
than the total number of tasks).
C) It's the number of tasks multiplied by (n + 1).
D) It's the number of tasks plus n.
Find the Duplicate Number - LeetCode #287
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Find the Duplicate Number" problem?
A) To find all duplicate numbers in an array.
B) To find the single duplicate number in an array where the array contains n+1 integers with
each integer in the range [1, n] inclusive.
C) To count the occurrences of each number in the array.
D) To sort the array and find duplicate numbers.
Question 2: Approaches to Solving
What are some common approaches to solve this problem?
A) Sorting, using a hash set, Floyd's cycle - finding algorithm.
B) Using a stack, recursion, greedy approach.
C) Binary search, divide and conquer, dynamic programming.
D) Linear scan, counting sort, depth - first search.
Question 3: Using a Hash Set
How can a hash set be used to find the duplicate number?
A) Iterate through the array. If an element is already in the set, it is the duplicate.
B) Store all elements in the set and then find the element with a count greater than 1.
C) Store the frequency of each element in the set.
D) This approach cannot be used.
Question 4: Floyd's Cycle- Finding Algorithm
How can Floyd's cycle - finding algorithm (tortoise and hare) be applied to this problem?
A) Treat the array indices as nodes and the value at each index nums[i] as a pointer to the
next node i = nums[i]. The duplicate number creates a cycle in this linked list.
B) Sort the array and then use two pointers.
C) Use two pointers to compare adjacent elements.
D) This algorithm is not applicable to this problem.
Question 5: Binary Search Approach
How can binary search be used to find the duplicate number?
A) Perform binary search on the values (from 1 to n). For each value mid, count the number of
elements in the array that are less than or equal to mid. If this count is greater than mid, then
the duplicate must be in the range [1, mid].
B) Perform binary search on the indices of the array.
C) Sort the array and then perform binary search.
D) Binary search cannot be used directly to find the duplicate in this way.
Sliding Window Maximum - LeetCode #239
Question 1: Understanding the Problem
What is the objective of the "Sliding Window Maximum" problem?
A) To find the maximum element in the entire array.
B) To find the maximum element within each sliding window of a given size k as it moves from
left to right across the array.
C) To find the minimum element in each sliding window.
D) To sort the elements within each sliding window.
Question 2: Brute Force Approach
How would a brute force approach to this problem work?
A) Iterate through all possible subarrays of size k and find the maximum element in each
subarray.
B) Find the maximum of the entire array and return it for every window.
C) Sort the array and then consider subarrays of size k.
D) Use a fixed window and update the maximum only when the window moves.
Question 3: Optimization using a Deque
Which data structure is commonly used to optimize this problem for efficiency?
A) Queue.
B) Stack.
C) Deque (Double- Ended Queue).
D) Priority Queue (Min- Heap).
Question 4: What the Deque Stores
What does the deque typically store during the traversal of the array?
A) The elements of the current window.
B) The indices of the elements in the current window.
C) The maximum element found so far.
D) The differences between consecutive elements.
Question 5: Logic of Deque Operations
How are elements added to and removed from the deque to maintain the maximum element
of the current window at the front?
A) When a new element enters the window, remove all elements from the back of the deque
that are smaller than the new element. Then, add the index of the new element to the back.
Remove indices from the front of the deque that are no longer within the curr ent window.
B) Add all elements to the deque and sort it for each window.
C) Only store the maximum element in the deque.
D) The deque is used to store all elements, and the maximum is found by iterating through it.