Pattern 8: Intervals and greedy
Comes up in: DSA
This concept is being written. It gets the full five steps — explanation, predict, interview angle, practice with tests, and review cards. Here is exactly what it will cover, so you can study it elsewhere in the meantime.
What it covers
- sort by start (or end)
- merge rule
- sweep line with events
- meeting rooms with a heap
- greedy choice property and exchange argument (intuition)
Words you will know
What you will practise
- merge-intervals (M)
- insert-interval (M)
- non-overlapping-intervals (M)
- meeting-rooms-ii (M)
- jump-game (M)
- gas-station (M)
- max-subarray-kadane (M)
Interview questions this answers
- Merge overlapping intervals. Why sort first?
- How many meeting rooms are needed for a list of meetings?
- How do you know a greedy algorithm is correct?