Introduction

In this blog post, we'll share the most commonly asked coding interview questions at SAP. 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: Reverse Linked List

Given the head of a singly linked list, reverse the list, and return the reversed list. Example 1: Input: head = [1,2,3,4,5] Output: [5,4,3,2,1] Example 2: Input: head = [1,2] Output: [2,1] Example 3: Input: head = [] Output: [] Constraints: The number of nodes in the list is the range [0, 5000]. -5000 <= Node.val <= 5000 Follow up: A linked list can be reversed either iteratively or recursively. Could you implement both?

Topics: Linked List, Recursion

Problem #3: Container With Most Water

You are given an integer array height of length n. There are n vertical lines drawn such that the two endpoints of the ith line are (i, 0) and (i, height[i]). Find two lines that together with the x-axis form a container, such that the container contains the most water. Return the maximum amount of water a container can store. Notice that you may not slant the container. Example 1: Input: height = [1,8,6,2,5,4,8,3,7] Output: 49 Explanation: The above vertical lines are represented by array [1,8,6,2,5,4,8,3,7]. In this case, the max area of water (blue section) the container can contain is 49. Example 2: Input: height = [1,1] Output: 1 Constraints: n == height.length 2 <= n <= 105 0 <= height[i] <= 104

Topics: Array, Two Pointers, Greedy

Problem #4: 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 #5: Trapping Rain Water

Given n non-negative integers representing an elevation map where the width of each bar is 1, compute how much water it can trap after raining. Example 1: Input: height = [0,1,0,2,1,0,1,3,2,1,2,1] Output: 6 Explanation: The above elevation map (black section) is represented by array [0,1,0,2,1,0,1,3,2,1,2,1]. In this case, 6 units of rain water (blue section) are being trapped. Example 2: Input: height = [4,2,0,3,2,5] Output: 9 Constraints: n == height.length 1 <= n <= 2 * 104 0 <= height[i] <= 105

Topics: Array, Two Pointers, Dynamic Programming, Stack, Monotonic Stack

Problem #6: Maximum Subarray

Given an integer array nums, find the subarray with the largest sum, and return its sum. Example 1: Input: nums = [-2,1,-3,4,-1,2,1,-5,4] Output: 6 Explanation: The subarray [4,-1,2,1] has the largest sum 6. Example 2: Input: nums = [1] Output: 1 Explanation: The subarray [1] has the largest sum 1. Example 3: Input: nums = [5,4,-1,7,8] Output: 23 Explanation: The subarray [5,4,-1,7,8] has the largest sum 23. Constraints: 1 <= nums.length <= 105 -104 <= nums[i] <= 104 Follow up: If you have figured out the O(n) solution, try coding another solution using the divide and conquer approach, which is more subtle.

Topics: Array, Divide and Conquer, Dynamic Programming

Problem #8: Kth Largest Element in an Array

Given an integer array nums and an integer k, return the kth largest element in the array. Note that it is the kth largest element in the sorted order, not the kth distinct element. Can you solve it without sorting? Example 1: Input: nums = [3,2,1,5,6,4], k = 2 Output: 5 Example 2: Input: nums = [3,2,3,1,2,4,5,5,6], k = 4 Output: 4 Constraints: 1 <= k <= nums.length <= 105 -104 <= nums[i] <= 104

Topics: Array, Divide and Conquer, Sorting, Heap (Priority Queue), Quickselect

Problem #9: Longest Palindromic Substring

Given a string s, return the longest palindromic substring in s. Example 1: Input: s = "babad" Output: "bab" Explanation: "aba" is also a valid answer. Example 2: Input: s = "cbbd" Output: "bb" Constraints: 1 <= s.length <= 1000 s consist of only digits and English letters.

Topics: Two Pointers, String, Dynamic Programming