Find Right Interval
To solve this coding challenge, we need to find the smallest interval starting point that is greater than or equal to the ending point of each given interval in an array. If such an interval does not exist, return -1 for that interval. The solution uses sorting and binary search for efficient interval searching.
is the number of intervals.
Keep in mind that topics like sorting algorithms, binary search, and tuple handling must be clearly understood to grasp the complete functionality of this solution. This method ensures computational efficiency, making the approach suitable for handling large data sets as specified in the constraints.
Explanation:
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Problem Understanding
: Each interval
i
j
- Examples Breakdown :
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Example 1:
intervals = [[1, 2]]
[-1]
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Example 2:
intervals = [[3, 4], [2, 3], [1, 2]]
- For [3, 4], no interval starts at or after 4, so the result is -1.
- For [2, 3], the interval [3, 4] (index 0) starts at 3 which is >= 3, so the result is 0.
- For [1,2], the interval [2,3] (index 1) is the right interval starting at 2 which is the smallest start >= 2, so the result is 1.
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Example 3:
intervals = [[1, 4], [2, 3], [3, 4]]
- For [1,4], no interval starts at or after 4, so the result is -1.
- For [2, 3], the interval [3,4] (index 2) starts at 3 which satisfies the requirement, so the result is 2.
- For [3, 4], no interval starts at or after 4, so the result is -1.
- Approach :
- First, sort the intervals based on the start points while keeping track of their original indices.
- For each interval, perform a binary search on the sorted start points to find the smallest start point greater than or equal to the end point of the current interval.
- Append the original index of the found interval to the result list, or append -1 if no such interval is found.
- Sort the intervals by start points with their indices :
- Create a list of tuples containing (start_point, index).
- Sort this list based on the start_point.
- Initialize the result list :
- Create an empty list to store results.
- Binary search for each interval's right interval :
- For each interval in the input intervals,
- Define the target as the end point of the current interval.
- Using binary search, determine the smallest start point in the sorted list that is greater than or equal to the target.
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Initialize binary search bounds:
left
right
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While
left
right
- Compute mid-point.
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If sorted[mid].start is less than target, adjust
left
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Otherwise, adjust
right
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After the loop, check if the index
left
- If true, append the index of that start point to result.
- Otherwise, append -1.
- Return the result list .
Detailed Steps in Pseudocode:
# Pseudocode function to find right intervals
# Function definition
function findRightInterval(intervals):
# Step 1: Sort intervals based on start points
start_sorted = sort([(interval[0], index) for index, interval in enumerate(intervals)])
# 'start_sorted' is a list of tuples (start_point, original_index)
result = [] # Initialize result list
# Step 2: Binary search for each interval
for interval in intervals:
target = interval[1] # End point of the current interval
left = 0 # Initialize binary search bounds
right = length(start_sorted) - 1
# Binary search loop
while left <= right:
mid = left + (right - left) // 2
if start_sorted[mid][0] < target: # If mid start point is less than target
left = mid + 1 # Move left bound up
else: # If mid start point is greater than or equal to target
right = mid - 1 # Move right bound down
# After binary search, check if we found valid interval
if left < length(start_sorted):
result.append(start_sorted[left][1]) # Append found interval's original index
else:
result.append(-1) # Append -1 if no interval found
return result # Return the list of results
In this solution, sorting the intervals by their starting points and using binary search helps efficiently find the right intervals with a time complexity of O(n log n) due to sorting and searching operations, where
n
Keep in mind that topics like sorting algorithms, binary search, and tuple handling must be clearly understood to grasp the complete functionality of this solution. This method ensures computational efficiency, making the approach suitable for handling large data sets as specified in the constraints.