Introduction

In this blog post, we'll share the most commonly asked coding interview questions at ZScaler. 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 #2: Robot Bounded In Circle

On an infinite plane, a robot initially stands at (0, 0) and faces north. Note that: The north direction is the positive direction of the y-axis. The south direction is the negative direction of the y-axis. The east direction is the positive direction of the x-axis. The west direction is the negative direction of the x-axis. The robot can receive one of three instructions: "G": go straight 1 unit. "L": turn 90 degrees to the left (i.e., anti-clockwise direction). "R": turn 90 degrees to the right (i.e., clockwise direction). The robot performs the instructions given in order, and repeats them forever. Return true if and only if there exists a circle in the plane such that the robot never leaves the circle. Example 1: Input: instructions = "GGLLGG" Output: true Explanation: The robot is initially at (0, 0) facing the north direction. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 1). Direction: North. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 2). Direction: North. "L": turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Position: (0, 2). Direction: West. "L": turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Position: (0, 2). Direction: South. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 1). Direction: South. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 0). Direction: South. Repeating the instructions, the robot goes into the cycle: (0, 0) --> (0, 1) --> (0, 2) --> (0, 1) --> (0, 0). Based on that, we return true. Example 2: Input: instructions = "GG" Output: false Explanation: The robot is initially at (0, 0) facing the north direction. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 1). Direction: North. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 2). Direction: North. Repeating the instructions, keeps advancing in the north direction and does not go into cycles. Based on that, we return false. Example 3: Input: instructions = "GL" Output: true Explanation: The robot is initially at (0, 0) facing the north direction. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 1). Direction: North. "L": turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Position: (0, 1). Direction: West. "G": move one step. Position: (-1, 1). Direction: West. "L": turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Position: (-1, 1). Direction: South. "G": move one step. Position: (-1, 0). Direction: South. "L": turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Position: (-1, 0). Direction: East. "G": move one step. Position: (0, 0). Direction: East. "L": turn 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Position: (0, 0). Direction: North. Repeating the instructions, the robot goes into the cycle: (0, 0) --> (0, 1) --> (-1, 1) --> (-1, 0) --> (0, 0). Based on that, we return true. Constraints: 1 <= instructions.length <= 100 instructions[i] is 'G', 'L' or, 'R'.

Topics: Math, String, Simulation