Im just wondering who can explain the algorithm of this solution step by step. I dont know how hashmap works. Can you also give a basic examples using a hashmap for me to understand this algorithm. Thank you!
var twoSum = function(nums, target) {
let hash = {};
for(let i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) {
const n = nums[i];
if(hash[target - n] !== undefined) {
return [hash[target - n], i];
}
hash[n] = i;
}
return [];
}
Your code takes an array of numbers and a target number/sum. It then returns the indexes in the array for two numbers which add up to the target number/sum.
Consider an array of numbers such as [1, 2, 3] and a target of 5. Your task is to find the two numbers in this array which add to 5. One way you can approach this problem is by looping over each number in your array and asking yourself "Is there a number (which I have already seen in my array) which I can add to the current number to get my target sum?".
Well, if we loop over the example array of [1, 2, 3] we first start at index 0 with the number 1. Currently, there are no numbers which we have already seen that we can add with 1 to get our target of 5 as we haven't looped over any numbers yet.
So, so far, we have met the number 1, which was at index 0. This is stored in the hashmap (ie object) as {'1': 0}. Where the key is the number and the value (0) is the index it was seen at. The purpose of the object is to store the numbers we have seen and the indexes they appear at.
Next, the loop continues to index 1, with the current number being 2. We can now ask ourselves the question: Is there a number which I have already seen in my array that I can add to my current number of 2 to get the target sum of 5. The amount needed to add to the current number to get to the target can be obtained by doing target-currentNumber. In this case, we are currently on 2, so we need to add 3 to get to our target sum of 5. Using the hashmap/object, we can check if we have already seen the number 3. To do this, we can try and access the object 3 key by doing obj[target-currentNumber]. Currently, our object only has the key of '1', so when we try and access the 3 key you'll get undefined. This means we haven't seen the number 3 yet, so, as of now, there isn't anything we can add to 2 to get our target sum.
So now our object/hashmap looks like {'1': 0, '2': 1}, as we have seen the number 1 which was at index 0, and we have seen the number 2 which was at index 1.
Finally, we reach the last number in your array which is at index 2. Index 2 of the array holds the number 3. Now again, we ask ourselves the question: Is there a number we have already seen which we can add to 3 (our current number) to get the target sum?. The number we need to add to 3 to get our target number of 5 is 2 (obtained by doing target-currentNumber). We can now check our object to see if we have already seen a number 2 in the array. To do so we can use obj[target-currentNumber] to get the value stored at the key 2, which stores the index of 1. This means that the number 2 does exist in the array, and so we can add it to 3 to reach our target. Since the value was in the object, we can now return our findings. That being the index of where the seen number occurred, and the index of the current number.
In general, the object is used to keep track of all the previously seen numbers in your array and keep a value of the index at which the number was seen at.
Here is an example of running your code. It returns [1, 2], as the numbers at indexes 1 and 2 can be added together to give the target sum of 5:
const twoSum = function(nums, target) {
const hash = {}; // Stores seen numbers: {seenNumber: indexItOccurred}
for (let i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) { // loop through all numbers
const n = nums[i]; // grab the current number `n`.
if (hash[target - n] !== undefined) { // check if the number we need to add to `n` to reach our target has been seen:
return [hash[target - n], i]; // grab the index of the seen number, and the index of the current number
}
hash[n] = i; // update our hash to include the. number we just saw along with its index.
}
return []; // If no numbers add up to equal the `target`, we can return an empty array
}
console.log(twoSum([1, 2, 3], 5)); // [1, 2]
A solution like this might seem over-engineered. You might be wondering why you can't just look at one number in the array, and then look at all the other numbers and see if you come across a number that adds up to equal the target. A solution like that would work perfectly fine, however, it's not very efficient. If you had N numbers in your array, in the worst case (where no two numbers add up to equal your target) you would need to loop through all of these N numbers - that means you would do N iterations. However, for each iteration where you look at a singular number, you would then need to look at each other number using a inner loop. This would mean that for each iteration of your outer loop you would do N iterations of your inner loop. This would result in you doing N*N or N2 work (O(N2) work). Unlike this approach, the solution described in the first half of this answer only needs to do N iterations over the entire array. Using the object, we can find whether or not a number is in the object in constant (O(1)) time, which means that the total work for the above algorithm is only O(N).
For further information about how objects work, you can read about bracket notation and other property accessor methods here.
You may want to check out this method, it worked so well for me and I have written a lot of comments on it to help even a beginner understand better.
let nums = [2, 7, 11, 15];
let target = 9;
function twoSums(arr, t){
let num1;
//create the variable for the first number
let num2;
//create the variable for the second number
let index1;
//create the variable for the index of the first number
let index2;
//create the variable for the index of the second number
for(let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
//make a for loop to loop through the array elements
num1 = arr[i];
//assign the array iteration, i, value to the num1 variable
//eg: num1 = arr[0] which is 2
num2 = t - num1;
//get the difference between the target and the number in num1.
//eg: t(9) - num1(2) = 7;
if(arr.includes(num2)){
//check to see if the num2 number, 7, is contained in the array;
index1 = arr.indexOf(num2);
//if yes get the index of the num2 value, 7, from the array,
// eg: the index of 7 in the array is 1;
index2 = arr.indexOf(num1)
//get the index of the num1 value, which is 2, theindex of 2 in the array is 0;
}
}
return(`[${index1}, ${index2}]`);
//return the indexes in block parenthesis. You may choose to create an array and push the values into it, but consider space complexities.
}
console.log(twoSums(nums, target));
//call the function. Remeber we already declared the values at the top already.
//In my opinion, this method is best, it considers both time complexity and space complexityat its lowest value.
//Time complexity: 0(n)
function twoSum(numbers, target) {
for (let i = 0; i < numbers.length; i++) {
for (let j = i + 1; j < numbers.length; j++) {
if (numbers[i] + numbers[j] === target) {
return [numbers.indexOf(numbers[i]), numbers.lastIndexOf(numbers[j])];
}
}
}
}
Related
I'm currently learning Javascript and would love if someone could help me understand the for loops further. I want to see if someone can give me a bit of an in depth explanation as to how this loop works.
The idea is to return the first non consecutive number in the argument, which as you can see is 6.
Because I'm still learning I wanted to get a detailed yet easy understanding of how this works for example, what's the difference between arr[i]+1 and arr[i+1]?
function firstNonConsec(arr){
for(let i = 0; i < arr.length - 1; i++){
if(arr[i] + 1 !== arr[i+1]){
return arr[i + 1];
}
}
return null
};
console.log(firstNonConsec([1,2,3,4,6,7,8]));
what's the difference between arr[i]+1 and arr[i+1]?
This is not a question about the for loop, but about arrays.
if arr is an array, then you can get the value of one of its items by doing arr[item_number]
arr[i]+1 will therefore give you the value at the place i of the table (e.g. if i equals 0, that would be the first entry in the array), plus one*
arr[i+1] will give you the value at the place i+1 of the table (e.g. if i equals 0, that would be the second entry in the array)
note that +1 can do a lot of things in Javascript, depending on type auto conversion; in your case with only numbers it will increase the number by 1
You can get reference from this workflow of firstNonConsec([1,2,3,4,6,7,8])
i : 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
arr[i] : [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 ]
arr[i] + 1 : 2 3 4 5 7 8 9
arr[i+1] : 2 3 4 6 7 8 N
if-statement : T T T F T T F // T: true F: false
return : 2 3 4 N 7 8 N // N: null
arr[i]+1 returns the value of arr's ith array position, then adds one to that value.
arr = [2, 9, 5, 1]
i = 2
arr[2] + 1
Result: 6
So it 1) finds the item in that position 2) adds 1. An array's index starts at 0: arr[n] = [0+n]
You always get the value equal to the result within the bracket.
arr[i+1] would return the i+1th value.
arr = [2, 9, 5, 1]
i = 2
print(arr[i+1]) == print(arr[3])
Result: 1
So this one changes the position itself by 1. This is how a robocaller might complete a call then select the next phone number in a list.
In your case:
if(arr[i] + 1 !== arr[i+1]){
return arr[i + 1];
if the value of the next item in the list is not equal to the previous value + 1, return that value. The function prints you a list of every non consecutive number.
for loop is basically a special type of while loop
var i = 0;
while (i < 10) {
// < code >
i++
}
is the same as
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
//< code >
}
while loops are used for many different things, so remember them, but for loops are used most. Basically the first "segment" (I'm gonna call whatever's before a semicolon a segment) runs before whatever code you wrote. It usually declares a variable. The second segment runs every time, and stops the loop if the condition isn't met. The third segment also runs every time, but it just runs some code after all the code you wrote is written..
In a lot of languages, including JavaScript, you can also loop through arrays and HashMaps. In JavaScript, you use in and of words.
use for/in for objects
for (let x in < object >) {
//< code >
}
and for each iteration, x is the key of one of the object's properties
to loop through arrays and other iterable objects (you can use for/in, but it's bad practice to), use for/of
for (var x of < array >) {
//< code >
}
this loops through the values of an array, or other such iterable object
the difference between arr[i+1] and arr[i]+1 is that arr[i+1] will access the element after the index specified, but arr[i]+1 will take the value of the index, and return that + 1 (won't change the value, use += to change value). BTW you don't always have to use of for looping thru arrays, you can do it this way which takes i and increases it every time, then takes the value of the index of i.
the answer to your problem:
function firstNonConsec(arr) {
let temp = arr[0];
for (let i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
temp = arr[i - 1];
if (temp !== arr[i] - 1) return arr[i];
}
return null;
}
I'm not using for of because you didn't, but comment if you want me to write with for of
Note I used let most of the time because you don't want there to be a random variable that you don't need, and let is limited to the scope of the loop. Also, iterating variables are commonly named i, j, x, y, z and such so you might use i a lot.
I'm working on creating a basic function that takes in 2 parameters -- array and num.
In the array are a list of numbers and the output could essentially generate 3 results:
0 with no two numbers that equal the sum equal to num.
1 variation of two numbers that is equal to the sum that is num
Multiple variations of 2 numbers that equal the sum that is num
I've been working with filter and reduce but haven't been able to produce the desired output.
Let's say I have a nums array of [3,6,9,18] and have a specified num value of 15.
var findNumSum = function(nums, num) {
function val(a, b) {
a + b === num;
var es = [a, b]
return es;
}
var result1 = nums.filter(val); // [3,6,9,18]
var result2 = nums.reduce(val); // [[6, 9], 18]] -- I've been able to isolate the num values but wasn't the result I was expecting. I'm still pretty fresh at this.
};
Let's assume you want to find sums for the number 6. Check the first number of the array, let it be 2. You now want to know if there's a 4 in you array, so you check that. Do this process for all the numbers in the array and remove duplicates.
Maybe this could help ?
Here is a little snippets along the lines of the previous suggestions:
const arr=[...Array(25)].map((_,v,)=>v), // create an array with 25 numbers
findsum=(ar,sum)=>
ar.reduce((a,c,i)=>
(c>sum || ar.slice(i+1).forEach(v=>
c+v-sum || a.push([c,v])),a)
,[] );
console.log(findsum(arr,27)) // find all possible pairs that add up to 27
Maybe it is helpful to you?
Only if the first condition c>sum is false the following ar.slice(i+1).forEach(...) will be executed. inside the forEach()-callback function the a.push([c,v]) will only be performed c+v-sum is "falsy" i. e. ==0.
I need help understanding what and how to use hash maps in javascript. I have an example where
Given an array of integers, return indices of the two numbers such that they add up to a specific target.
You may assume that each input would have exactly one solution, and you may not use the same element twice.
Can someone breakdown what this hashmap solution is doing and why it's better? Also if someone would be kind of enough to give me a similar problem to practice with that would extremely helpful.
Given nums = [2, 7, 11, 15], target = 9,
Because nums[0] + nums[1] = 2 + 7 = 9,
return [0, 1].
My BruteForce Solution
for (var i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) {
for (var j = i + 1; j < nums.length; j++) {
if (nums[i] + nums[j] === target) {
result.push(i);
result.push(j);
}
}
}
return result;
}
console.log(twoSum([2, 7, 11, 15], 9));
HashMapSolution
function twoSumBest(array, target) {
const numsMap = new Map();
for (let i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
if(numsMap.has(target - array[i])) {
return [numsMap.get(target - array[i], i)];
// get() returns a specified element associated with the specified key from the Map object.
} else {
numsMap.set(array[i], i);
// set() adds or updates an element with a specified key and value to a Map object.
}
}
}
If you want to reach 10 and you have 7, you already know that the other number that is needed is 3. So for every number in the array, you only have to check wether the complementary number is in the array, you don't necessarily have to search for it.
If we go over all array entries once (let's call them a) and add them to a hashmap with their index, we can go over the array again and for each entry (b), we can check if the hashmap contains an a (where a + b = target). If that entry is found, the index of b is known, and the index of a can be retrieved from the hashmap¹. Now using that method we only iterate the array twice (or just once, doesn't matter that much), so if you have 1000 numbers, it'll iterate 1000 times. Your solution will iterate 1000 * 1000 times (worst case). So the hashtable approach is way faster (for larger arrays).
¹ Hashmaps are very special, as the time it takes to look up a key takes a constant amount of time, so it does not matter wether the array has 10 or 10 million entries (the time complexity is constant = O(1)). Thus, looking up in an hashtable is way better than searching inside of an array (which takes more time with more entries = O(n)).
So I have an array called arr.
I want to populate it with four random numbers:
for (var i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
arr[i] = Math.floor(Math.random() * 10);
}
If that returns an array with values [4, 2, 3, 4]. How do I check for duplicates, and recalculate a random number that doesn't equal any other values that already exist in the array?
Also if there is a better way of accomplishing this, I would love to learn/know that way as well.
Also if there is a better way of accomplishing this, I would love to learn/know that way as well.
There is.
If you need unique values, generate a regular sequential array [1,2,3,4] (or however long you need), and then use that to fill a second array, by successively extracting random elements from the first array (thus growing array 2, and shrinking array 1):
var a1 = [];
for (var i=0; i<4; i++) { a1.push(i); }
var a2 = [];
while (a1.length) {
var pos = Math.random()*a1.length;
var element = a1.splice(pos, 1)[0];
a2.push(element);
}
// a2 is now an array with a random permutation of the elements of a1
The splice call removes an subarray starting at position pos with (in this case) 1 element, so a1 gets shorter and shorter, until it's empty, at which point a2 will be a permuted array of unique values.
If we start with a1 = [0,1,2,3] then after this runs a2 can be any of 24 possible sequences, with guaranteed unique values because that's what we started with, just in a randomised order.
What you are looking for is a way to take a random sample from an array of the integers [0..9]. You can do this with several algorithms, for example a simple reservoir sampling algorithm.
If you want to have an array that contains any amount of numbers from 1 to n in random order, I think the more viable approach is to generate an array with all numbers from 1 to n and then shuffle it as described here.
You can then proceed to splice the array after shuffling to shorten it to the desired length.
Both steps have the complexity of O(1) or O(n), which is far better than testing for every insert or modifying a value pool from which you draw the numbers.
I'd probably make a function for the loop.
function getNumber(arr){
var num = Math.floor(Math.random() * 10);
if(arr.indexOf(num) < 0){
return num;
} else {
getNumber(arr);
};
};
Then you would do:
var arr = [];
for (var i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
arr[i] = getNumber(arr);
}
In Javascript is any other efficient way to achieve this task?
I tried as:
const a1 = [1,3,4,2,5,7,8,6];
var newArray =[];
function fun(a,n){
for(let i = 0; i<a.length; i++){
for(let j=i+1; j<a.length; j++){
if((a[i]+a[j])==n){
newArray.push([a[i],a[j]]);
}
}
}
}
fun(a1, 10)
console.log(newArray);
Here output:
[(3,7),(4,6),(2,8)]
The question is tagged javascript, but this answer is basically language agnostic.
If the array is sorted (or you can sort it), you can iterate over the array and for each element x in it binary search for (target-x) in the array. This gives you O(nlogn) run time.
If you can use extra memory, you can populate a dictionary with the elements of the array, and then for each element x in the array, look up the dictionary for (target-x). If your dictionary is implemented on a hashtable, this gives you O(n) run time.
I think your method makes sense from a brute force perspective.
In terms of optimization, a few things come to mind.
Do duplicates count? If not, you can remove all duplicates from
the starting lists.
You can sort the lists in ascending order,
and skip the remainder of the inner loop when the sum exceeds the
target value.
This is a general programming problem commonly referred to as the "two sum problem", which itself is a subset of the subset sum problem.
But nevertheless can be solved efficiently and I used this article as inspiration.
const a1 = [1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 7, 8, 6];
// our two sum function which will return
// all pairs in the array that sum up to S
function twoSum(arr, S) {
const sums = [];
const hashMap = new Map();
// check each element in array
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
// calculate S - current element
let sumMinusElement = S - arr[i];
// check if this number exists in hash map
// if so then we found a pair of numbers that sum to S
if (hashMap.has(sumMinusElement.toString())) {
sums.push([arr[i], sumMinusElement]);
}
// add the current number to the hash map
hashMap.set(arr[i].toString(), arr[i])
}
// return all pairs of integers that sum to S
return sums;
}
console.log(twoSum(a1, 10))
Here I use the Map object since I think it's faster when checking if number already exists, but I might be wrong and you can use just a plain object, as in the article, if you want.