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Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions
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Solution: Product of Array Except Self

Problem Statement

Given an array of integers, return a new array where each element at index i of the new array is the product of all the numbers in the original array except the one at i. You must solve this problem without using division.

Examples

    • Input: [2, 3, 4, 5]
    • Expected Output: [60, 40, 30, 24]
    • Justification: For the first element: 3*4*5 = 60, for the second element: 2*4*5 = 40, for the third element: 2*3*5 = 30, and for the fourth element: 2*3*4 = 24.
    • Input: [1, 1, 1, 1]
    • Expected Output: [1, 1, 1, 1]
    • Justification: Every element is 1, so the product of all other numbers for each index is also 1.
    • Input: [10, 20, 30, 40]
    • Expected Output: [24000, 12000, 8000, 6000]
    • Justification: For the first element: 20*30*40 = 24000, for the second element: 10*30*40 = 12000, for the third element: 10*20*40 = 8000, and for the fourth element: 10*20*30 = 6000.

Constraints:

  • 2 <= nums.length <= 10<sup>5</sup>
  • -30 <= nums[i] <= 30
  • The product of any prefix or suffix of nums is guaranteed to fit in a 32-bit integer.

Solution

  • Initialize Two Arrays:

    • Start by initializing two arrays, left and right. The left array will hold the product of all numbers to the left of index i, and the right array will hold the product of all numbers to the right of index i.
  • Populate the Left Array:

    • The first element of the left array will always be 1 because there are no numbers to the left of the first element.
    • For the remaining elements, each value in the left array is the product of its previous value and the corresponding value in the input array.
  • Populate the Right Array:

    • Similarly, the last element of the right array will always be 1 because there are no numbers to the right of the last element.
    • For the remaining elements, each value in the right array is the product of its next value and the corresponding value in the input array.
  • Calculate the Result:

    • For each index i, the value in the result array will be the product of left[i] and right[i].

Algorithm Walkthrough

Using the input [2, 3, 4, 5]:

  1. Initialize left and right arrays with the same length as the input array and fill them with 1.
  2. Populate the left array:
    • left[0] = 1
    • left[1] = left[0] * input[0] = 2
    • left[2] = left[1] * input[1] = 6
    • left[3] = left[2] * input[2] = 24
  3. Populate the right array:
    • right[3] = 1
    • right[2] = right[3] * input[3] = 5
    • right[1] = right[2] * input[2] = 20
    • right[0] = right[1] * input[1] = 60
  4. Calculate the result:
    • result[0] = left[0] * right[0] = 60
    • result[1] = left[1] * right[1] = 40
    • result[2] = left[2] * right[2] = 30
    • result[3] = left[3] * right[3] = 24

Code

Python3
Python3

. . .
You must run your code first

Complexity Analysis:

  • Time Complexity: O(n). We traverse the input array three times, so the time complexity is linear.
  • Space Complexity: O(n). We use three additional arrays (left, right, and result).
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