Introduction

In this blog post, we'll share the most commonly asked coding interview questions at PayPal. 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: Number of Islands

Given an m x n 2D binary grid grid which represents a map of '1's (land) and '0's (water), return the number of islands. An island is surrounded by water and is formed by connecting adjacent lands horizontally or vertically. You may assume all four edges of the grid are all surrounded by water. Example 1: Input: grid = [ ["1","1","1","1","0"], ["1","1","0","1","0"], ["1","1","0","0","0"], ["0","0","0","0","0"] ] Output: 1 Example 2: Input: grid = [ ["1","1","0","0","0"], ["1","1","0","0","0"], ["0","0","1","0","0"], ["0","0","0","1","1"] ] Output: 3 Constraints: m == grid.length n == grid[i].length 1 <= m, n <= 300 grid[i][j] is '0' or '1'.

Topics: Array, Depth-First Search, Breadth-First Search, Union Find, Matrix

Problem #2: Maximal Square

Given an m x n binary matrix filled with 0's and 1's, find the largest square containing only 1's and return its area. Example 1: Input: matrix = [["1","0","1","0","0"],["1","0","1","1","1"],["1","1","1","1","1"],["1","0","0","1","0"]] Output: 4 Example 2: Input: matrix = [["0","1"],["1","0"]] Output: 1 Example 3: Input: matrix = [["0"]] Output: 0 Constraints: m == matrix.length n == matrix[i].length 1 <= m, n <= 300 matrix[i][j] is '0' or '1'.

Topics: Array, Dynamic Programming, Matrix

Problem #3: Coin Change

You are given an integer array coins representing coins of different denominations and an integer amount representing a total amount of money. Return the fewest number of coins that you need to make up that amount. If that amount of money cannot be made up by any combination of the coins, return -1. You may assume that you have an infinite number of each kind of coin. Example 1: Input: coins = [1,2,5], amount = 11 Output: 3 Explanation: 11 = 5 + 5 + 1 Example 2: Input: coins = [2], amount = 3 Output: -1 Example 3: Input: coins = [1], amount = 0 Output: 0 Constraints: 1 <= coins.length <= 12 1 <= coins[i] <= 231 - 1 0 <= amount <= 104

Topics: Array, Dynamic Programming, Breadth-First Search

Problem #4: Zigzag Conversion

The string "PAYPALISHIRING" is written in a zigzag pattern on a given number of rows like this: (you may want to display this pattern in a fixed font for better legibility) P A H N A P L S I I G Y I R And then read line by line: "PAHNAPLSIIGYIR" Write the code that will take a string and make this conversion given a number of rows: string convert(string s, int numRows); Example 1: Input: s = "PAYPALISHIRING", numRows = 3 Output: "PAHNAPLSIIGYIR" Example 2: Input: s = "PAYPALISHIRING", numRows = 4 Output: "PINALSIGYAHRPI" Explanation: P I N A L S I G Y A H R P I Example 3: Input: s = "A", numRows = 1 Output: "A" Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 1000 s consists of English letters (lower-case and upper-case), ',' and '.'. 1 <= numRows <= 1000

Topics: String

Problem #5: 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

Problem #6: Minimum Absolute Difference

Given an array of distinct integers arr, find all pairs of elements with the minimum absolute difference of any two elements. Return a list of pairs in ascending order(with respect to pairs), each pair [a, b] follows a, b are from arr a < b b - a equals to the minimum absolute difference of any two elements in arr Example 1: Input: arr = [4,2,1,3] Output: [[1,2],[2,3],[3,4]] Explanation: The minimum absolute difference is 1. List all pairs with difference equal to 1 in ascending order. Example 2: Input: arr = [1,3,6,10,15] Output: [[1,3]] Example 3: Input: arr = [3,8,-10,23,19,-4,-14,27] Output: [[-14,-10],[19,23],[23,27]] Constraints: 2 <= arr.length <= 105 -106 <= arr[i] <= 106

Topics: Array, Sorting

Problem #7: Random Pick with Weight

You are given a 0-indexed array of positive integers w where w[i] describes the weight of the ith index. You need to implement the function pickIndex(), which randomly picks an index in the range [0, w.length - 1] (inclusive) and returns it. The probability of picking an index i is w[i] / sum(w). For example, if w = [1, 3], the probability of picking index 0 is 1 / (1 + 3) = 0.25 (i.e., 25%), and the probability of picking index 1 is 3 / (1 + 3) = 0.75 (i.e., 75%). Example 1: Input ["Solution","pickIndex"] [[[1]],[]] Output [null,0] Explanation Solution solution = new Solution([1]); solution.pickIndex(); // return 0. The only option is to return 0 since there is only one element in w. Example 2: Input ["Solution","pickIndex","pickIndex","pickIndex","pickIndex","pickIndex"] [[[1,3]],[],[],[],[],[]] Output [null,1,1,1,1,0] Explanation Solution solution = new Solution([1, 3]); solution.pickIndex(); // return 1. It is returning the second element (index = 1) that has a probability of 3/4. solution.pickIndex(); // return 1 solution.pickIndex(); // return 1 solution.pickIndex(); // return 1 solution.pickIndex(); // return 0. It is returning the first element (index = 0) that has a probability of 1/4. Since this is a randomization problem, multiple answers are allowed. All of the following outputs can be considered correct: [null,1,1,1,1,0] [null,1,1,1,1,1] [null,1,1,1,0,0] [null,1,1,1,0,1] [null,1,0,1,0,0] ...... and so on. Constraints: 1 <= w.length <= 104 1 <= w[i] <= 105 pickIndex will be called at most 104 times.

Topics: Array, Math, Binary Search, Prefix Sum, Randomized

Problem #8: Longest Increasing Subsequence

Given an integer array nums, return the length of the longest strictly increasing subsequence. Example 1: Input: nums = [10,9,2,5,3,7,101,18] Output: 4 Explanation: The longest increasing subsequence is [2,3,7,101], therefore the length is 4. Example 2: Input: nums = [0,1,0,3,2,3] Output: 4 Example 3: Input: nums = [7,7,7,7,7,7,7] Output: 1 Constraints: 1 <= nums.length <= 2500 -104 <= nums[i] <= 104 Follow up: Can you come up with an algorithm that runs in O(n log(n)) time complexity?

Topics: Array, Binary Search, Dynamic Programming

Problem #9: Group Anagrams

Given an array of strings strs, group the anagrams together. You can return the answer in any order. Example 1: Input: strs = ["eat","tea","tan","ate","nat","bat"] Output: [["bat"],["nat","tan"],["ate","eat","tea"]] Explanation: There is no string in strs that can be rearranged to form "bat". The strings "nat" and "tan" are anagrams as they can be rearranged to form each other. The strings "ate", "eat", and "tea" are anagrams as they can be rearranged to form each other. Example 2: Input: strs = [""] Output: [[""]] Example 3: Input: strs = ["a"] Output: [["a"]] Constraints: 1 <= strs.length <= 104 0 <= strs[i].length <= 100 strs[i] consists of lowercase English letters.

Topics: Array, Hash Table, String, Sorting

Problem #10: Loud and Rich

There is a group of n people labeled from 0 to n - 1 where each person has a different amount of money and a different level of quietness. You are given an array richer where richer[i] = [ai, bi] indicates that ai has more money than bi and an integer array quiet where quiet[i] is the quietness of the ith person. All the given data in richer are logically correct (i.e., the data will not lead you to a situation where x is richer than y and y is richer than x at the same time). Return an integer array answer where answer[x] = y if y is the least quiet person (that is, the person y with the smallest value of quiet[y]) among all people who definitely have equal to or more money than the person x. Example 1: Input: richer = [[1,0],[2,1],[3,1],[3,7],[4,3],[5,3],[6,3]], quiet = [3,2,5,4,6,1,7,0] Output: [5,5,2,5,4,5,6,7] Explanation: answer[0] = 5. Person 5 has more money than 3, which has more money than 1, which has more money than 0. The only person who is quieter (has lower quiet[x]) is person 7, but it is not clear if they have more money than person 0. answer[7] = 7. Among all people that definitely have equal to or more money than person 7 (which could be persons 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7), the person who is the quietest (has lower quiet[x]) is person 7. The other answers can be filled out with similar reasoning. Example 2: Input: richer = [], quiet = [0] Output: [0] Constraints: n == quiet.length 1 <= n <= 500 0 <= quiet[i] < n All the values of quiet are unique. 0 <= richer.length <= n * (n - 1) / 2 0 <= ai, bi < n ai != bi All the pairs of richer are unique. The observations in richer are all logically consistent.

Topics: Array, Depth-First Search, Graph, Topological Sort