Pascals Triangle Ii

To solve this coding challenge, we need to generate a specific row of Pascal's Triangle given a zero-based index. Pascal's Triangle is a triangular array of numbers where each number is the sum of the two numbers directly above it. In order to find the
rowIndex
-th row, we adopt an efficient technique that requires only O(rowIndex) extra space.

Explanation

In this challenge, we aim to generate the
rowIndex
-th row of Pascal's Triangle. The
0
-th row is simply
[1]
. From there, each subsequent row is generated by considering the values from the previous row.
Pascal's Triangle Fundamental Concept:
  1. The edges of Pascal's Triangle are always
    1
    .
  2. Any interior value at position
    j
    in row
    i
    can be calculated as the sum of the values at position
    j
    and
    j-1
    from row
    i-1
    .
  3. Optimized Approach:
    Given the constraints where
    0 <= rowIndex <= 33
    , an optimized solution is important to consider. Instead of generating the entire Pascal's Triangle up to the
    rowIndex
    , we only store the current row while iteratively updating it.
    Detailed Steps in Pseudocode:
  4. Initialization : Start with a list
    row
    filled with ones. The length of this list is
    rowIndex + 1
    .
  5. Iteration and Update : Use nested loops to update the values of
    row
    . For each index
    i
    from 2 to
    rowIndex
    :
    • Update the elements of
      row
      from the end to the beginning, thus ensuring that no element is overwritten prematurely.
    Pseudocode with Comments:
                                                
    # Define function to get specific row of Pascal's Triangle
    function getPascalRow(rowIndex):
    # Step 1: Initialize a list 'row' of size rowIndex + 1 with all elements set to 1
    row = [1] * (rowIndex + 1)
    
    # Step 2: Iterate over each row from 2 to rowIndex
    for i in range 2 to rowIndex + 1:
    # Step 3: Update the row from right to left to avoid overwriting earlier values
    for j in range i - 1 to 0 step -1:
    # Each element is the sum of the two elements directly above it
    row[j] = row[j] + row[j - 1]
    
    # Return the final row which represents the rowIndex-th row of Pascal's Triangle
    return row
    
                                            
    Step-by-Step Explanation:
  6. Initialize Row :
    • Start by creating a list named
      row
      with a length of
      rowIndex + 1
      , and fill it with
      1
      s. This lays the foundation, as the edges of Pascal's Triangle are always
      1
      .
  7. Update Elements :
    • Beginning from the 2nd row to
      rowIndex
      -th row (since the 0th and 1st rows are trivially simple):
      • For each row
        i
        , iterate backwards from the second last element to the first element. This ensures that the updating of
        row[j]
        does not interfere with other updates yet to be performed in the iteration.
      • Update the current element
        row[j]
        by adding the value directly above it (
        row[j - 1]
        from the previous iteration).
  8. Return Result :
    • By the end of the iterations, the list
      row
      will contain the values of the
      rowIndex
      -th row of Pascal's Triangle, which is then returned as the output.
This detailed explanation and pseudocode illustrate how to efficiently generate the specific row of Pascal's Triangle using only linear extra space relative to the input size.