Introduction

In this blog post, we'll share the most commonly asked coding interview questions at SoFi. 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: Minimum Number of Steps to Make Two Strings Anagram

You are given two strings of the same length s and t. In one step you can choose any character of t and replace it with another character. Return the minimum number of steps to make t an anagram of s. An Anagram of a string is a string that contains the same characters with a different (or the same) ordering. Example 1: Input: s = "bab", t = "aba" Output: 1 Explanation: Replace the first 'a' in t with b, t = "bba" which is anagram of s. Example 2: Input: s = "leetcode", t = "practice" Output: 5 Explanation: Replace 'p', 'r', 'a', 'i' and 'c' from t with proper characters to make t anagram of s. Example 3: Input: s = "anagram", t = "mangaar" Output: 0 Explanation: "anagram" and "mangaar" are anagrams. Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 5 * 104 s.length == t.length s and t consist of lowercase English letters only.

Topics: Hash Table, String, Counting

Problem #2: 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 #3: Minimum Window Substring

Given two strings s and t of lengths m and n respectively, return the minimum window substring of s such that every character in t (including duplicates) is included in the window. If there is no such substring, return the empty string "". The testcases will be generated such that the answer is unique. Example 1: Input: s = "ADOBECODEBANC", t = "ABC" Output: "BANC" Explanation: The minimum window substring "BANC" includes 'A', 'B', and 'C' from string t. Example 2: Input: s = "a", t = "a" Output: "a" Explanation: The entire string s is the minimum window. Example 3: Input: s = "a", t = "aa" Output: "" Explanation: Both 'a's from t must be included in the window. Since the largest window of s only has one 'a', return empty string. Constraints: m == s.length n == t.length 1 <= m, n <= 105 s and t consist of uppercase and lowercase English letters. Follow up: Could you find an algorithm that runs in O(m + n) time?

Topics: Hash Table, String, Sliding Window

Problem #4: Longest Mountain in Array

You may recall that an array arr is a mountain array if and only if: arr.length >= 3 There exists some index i (0-indexed) with 0 < i < arr.length - 1 such that: arr[0] < arr[1] < ... < arr[i - 1] < arr[i] arr[i] > arr[i + 1] > ... > arr[arr.length - 1] Given an integer array arr, return the length of the longest subarray, which is a mountain. Return 0 if there is no mountain subarray. Example 1: Input: arr = [2,1,4,7,3,2,5] Output: 5 Explanation: The largest mountain is [1,4,7,3,2] which has length 5. Example 2: Input: arr = [2,2,2] Output: 0 Explanation: There is no mountain. Constraints: 1 <= arr.length <= 104 0 <= arr[i] <= 104 Follow up: Can you solve it using only one pass? Can you solve it in O(1) space?

Topics: Array, Two Pointers, Dynamic Programming, Enumeration