Introduction

In this blog post, we'll share the most commonly asked coding interview questions at Bloomberg. If you don't have months to study for your interviews, you can use AI tools like Chatmagic to generate solutions quickly and efficiently - helping you pass the interviews and get the job offer!

Problem #1: Insert Delete GetRandom O(1)

Implement the RandomizedSet class: RandomizedSet() Initializes the RandomizedSet object. bool insert(int val) Inserts an item val into the set if not present. Returns true if the item was not present, false otherwise. bool remove(int val) Removes an item val from the set if present. Returns true if the item was present, false otherwise. int getRandom() Returns a random element from the current set of elements (it's guaranteed that at least one element exists when this method is called). Each element must have the same probability of being returned. You must implement the functions of the class such that each function works in average O(1) time complexity. Example 1: Input ["RandomizedSet", "insert", "remove", "insert", "getRandom", "remove", "insert", "getRandom"] [[], [1], [2], [2], [], [1], [2], []] Output [null, true, false, true, 2, true, false, 2] Explanation RandomizedSet randomizedSet = new RandomizedSet(); randomizedSet.insert(1); // Inserts 1 to the set. Returns true as 1 was inserted successfully. randomizedSet.remove(2); // Returns false as 2 does not exist in the set. randomizedSet.insert(2); // Inserts 2 to the set, returns true. Set now contains [1,2]. randomizedSet.getRandom(); // getRandom() should return either 1 or 2 randomly. randomizedSet.remove(1); // Removes 1 from the set, returns true. Set now contains [2]. randomizedSet.insert(2); // 2 was already in the set, so return false. randomizedSet.getRandom(); // Since 2 is the only number in the set, getRandom() will always return 2. Constraints: -231 <= val <= 231 - 1 At most 2 * 105 calls will be made to insert, remove, and getRandom. There will be at least one element in the data structure when getRandom is called.

Topics: Array, Hash Table, Math, Design, Randomized

Problem #2: Two Sum

Given an array of integers nums and an integer target, return indices of the two numbers such that they add up to target. You may assume that each input would have exactly one solution, and you may not use the same element twice. You can return the answer in any order. Example 1: Input: nums = [2,7,11,15], target = 9 Output: [0,1] Explanation: Because nums[0] + nums[1] == 9, we return [0, 1]. Example 2: Input: nums = [3,2,4], target = 6 Output: [1,2] Example 3: Input: nums = [3,3], target = 6 Output: [0,1] Constraints: 2 <= nums.length <= 104 -109 <= nums[i] <= 109 -109 <= target <= 109 Only one valid answer exists. Follow-up: Can you come up with an algorithm that is less than O(n2) time complexity?

Topics: Array, Hash Table

Problem #3: Merge Intervals

Given an array of intervals where intervals[i] = [starti, endi], merge all overlapping intervals, and return an array of the non-overlapping intervals that cover all the intervals in the input. Example 1: Input: intervals = [[1,3],[2,6],[8,10],[15,18]] Output: [[1,6],[8,10],[15,18]] Explanation: Since intervals [1,3] and [2,6] overlap, merge them into [1,6]. Example 2: Input: intervals = [[1,4],[4,5]] Output: [[1,5]] Explanation: Intervals [1,4] and [4,5] are considered overlapping. Constraints: 1 <= intervals.length <= 104 intervals[i].length == 2 0 <= starti <= endi <= 104

Topics: Array, Sorting

Problem #4: Invalid Transactions

A transaction is possibly invalid if: the amount exceeds $1000, or; if it occurs within (and including) 60 minutes of another transaction with the same name in a different city. You are given an array of strings transaction where transactions[i] consists of comma-separated values representing the name, time (in minutes), amount, and city of the transaction. Return a list of transactions that are possibly invalid. You may return the answer in any order. Example 1: Input: transactions = ["alice,20,800,mtv","alice,50,100,beijing"] Output: ["alice,20,800,mtv","alice,50,100,beijing"] Explanation: The first transaction is invalid because the second transaction occurs within a difference of 60 minutes, have the same name and is in a different city. Similarly the second one is invalid too. Example 2: Input: transactions = ["alice,20,800,mtv","alice,50,1200,mtv"] Output: ["alice,50,1200,mtv"] Example 3: Input: transactions = ["alice,20,800,mtv","bob,50,1200,mtv"] Output: ["bob,50,1200,mtv"] Constraints: transactions.length <= 1000 Each transactions[i] takes the form "{name},{time},{amount},{city}" Each {name} and {city} consist of lowercase English letters, and have lengths between 1 and 10. Each {time} consist of digits, and represent an integer between 0 and 1000. Each {amount} consist of digits, and represent an integer between 0 and 2000.

Topics: Array, Hash Table, String, Sorting

Problem #5: Add Two Numbers

You are given two non-empty linked lists representing two non-negative integers. The digits are stored in reverse order, and each of their nodes contains a single digit. Add the two numbers and return the sum as a linked list. You may assume the two numbers do not contain any leading zero, except the number 0 itself. Example 1: Input: l1 = [2,4,3], l2 = [5,6,4] Output: [7,0,8] Explanation: 342 + 465 = 807. Example 2: Input: l1 = [0], l2 = [0] Output: [0] Example 3: Input: l1 = [9,9,9,9,9,9,9], l2 = [9,9,9,9] Output: [8,9,9,9,0,0,0,1] Constraints: The number of nodes in each linked list is in the range [1, 100]. 0 <= Node.val <= 9 It is guaranteed that the list represents a number that does not have leading zeros.

Topics: Linked List, Math, Recursion

Problem #6: Flatten a Multilevel Doubly Linked List

You are given a doubly linked list, which contains nodes that have a next pointer, a previous pointer, and an additional child pointer. This child pointer may or may not point to a separate doubly linked list, also containing these special nodes. These child lists may have one or more children of their own, and so on, to produce a multilevel data structure as shown in the example below. Given the head of the first level of the list, flatten the list so that all the nodes appear in a single-level, doubly linked list. Let curr be a node with a child list. The nodes in the child list should appear after curr and before curr.next in the flattened list. Return the head of the flattened list. The nodes in the list must have all of their child pointers set to null. Example 1: Input: head = [1,2,3,4,5,6,null,null,null,7,8,9,10,null,null,11,12] Output: [1,2,3,7,8,11,12,9,10,4,5,6] Explanation: The multilevel linked list in the input is shown. After flattening the multilevel linked list it becomes: Example 2: Input: head = [1,2,null,3] Output: [1,3,2] Explanation: The multilevel linked list in the input is shown. After flattening the multilevel linked list it becomes: Example 3: Input: head = [] Output: [] Explanation: There could be empty list in the input. Constraints: The number of Nodes will not exceed 1000. 1 <= Node.val <= 105 How the multilevel linked list is represented in test cases: We use the multilevel linked list from Example 1 above: 1---2---3---4---5---6--NULL | 7---8---9---10--NULL | 11--12--NULL The serialization of each level is as follows: [1,2,3,4,5,6,null] [7,8,9,10,null] [11,12,null] To serialize all levels together, we will add nulls in each level to signify no node connects to the upper node of the previous level. The serialization becomes: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, null] | [null, null, 7, 8, 9, 10, null] | [ null, 11, 12, null] Merging the serialization of each level and removing trailing nulls we obtain: [1,2,3,4,5,6,null,null,null,7,8,9,10,null,null,11,12]

Topics: Linked List, Depth-First Search, Doubly-Linked List

Problem #7: Valid Parentheses

Given a string s containing just the characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[' and ']', determine if the input string is valid. An input string is valid if: Open brackets must be closed by the same type of brackets. Open brackets must be closed in the correct order. Every close bracket has a corresponding open bracket of the same type. Example 1: Input: s = "()" Output: true Example 2: Input: s = "()[]{}" Output: true Example 3: Input: s = "(]" Output: false Example 4: Input: s = "([])" Output: true Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 104 s consists of parentheses only '()[]{}'.

Topics: String, Stack

Problem #8: Valid Anagram

Given two strings s and t, return true if t is an anagram of s, and false otherwise. Example 1: Input: s = "anagram", t = "nagaram" Output: true Example 2: Input: s = "rat", t = "car" Output: false Constraints: 1 <= s.length, t.length <= 5 * 104 s and t consist of lowercase English letters. Follow up: What if the inputs contain Unicode characters? How would you adapt your solution to such a case?

Topics: Hash Table, String, Sorting

Problem #9: Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters

Given a string s, find the length of the longest substring without duplicate characters. Example 1: Input: s = "abcabcbb" Output: 3 Explanation: The answer is "abc", with the length of 3. Example 2: Input: s = "bbbbb" Output: 1 Explanation: The answer is "b", with the length of 1. Example 3: Input: s = "pwwkew" Output: 3 Explanation: The answer is "wke", with the length of 3. Notice that the answer must be a substring, "pwke" is a subsequence and not a substring. Constraints: 0 <= s.length <= 5 * 104 s consists of English letters, digits, symbols and spaces.

Topics: Hash Table, String, Sliding Window

Problem #10: LRU Cache

Design a data structure that follows the constraints of a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache. Implement the LRUCache class: LRUCache(int capacity) Initialize the LRU cache with positive size capacity. int get(int key) Return the value of the key if the key exists, otherwise return -1. void put(int key, int value) Update the value of the key if the key exists. Otherwise, add the key-value pair to the cache. If the number of keys exceeds the capacity from this operation, evict the least recently used key. The functions get and put must each run in O(1) average time complexity. Example 1: Input ["LRUCache", "put", "put", "get", "put", "get", "put", "get", "get", "get"] [[2], [1, 1], [2, 2], [1], [3, 3], [2], [4, 4], [1], [3], [4]] Output [null, null, null, 1, null, -1, null, -1, 3, 4] Explanation LRUCache lRUCache = new LRUCache(2); lRUCache.put(1, 1); // cache is {1=1} lRUCache.put(2, 2); // cache is {1=1, 2=2} lRUCache.get(1); // return 1 lRUCache.put(3, 3); // LRU key was 2, evicts key 2, cache is {1=1, 3=3} lRUCache.get(2); // returns -1 (not found) lRUCache.put(4, 4); // LRU key was 1, evicts key 1, cache is {4=4, 3=3} lRUCache.get(1); // return -1 (not found) lRUCache.get(3); // return 3 lRUCache.get(4); // return 4 Constraints: 1 <= capacity <= 3000 0 <= key <= 104 0 <= value <= 105 At most 2 * 105 calls will be made to get and put.

Topics: Hash Table, Linked List, Design, Doubly-Linked List