If you are an aspiring software engineer, problem-solving skills are a must-have for you. Let’s put your skills to the test with a fun engineering challenge!
The Challenge:
- Given an array of integers, find the two numbers that add up to a specific target.
For example, if the given array is [2, 4, 6, 8] and the target is 10, the output should be [4, 6] as they add up to the target number.
Your Approach:
There are multiple ways to solve this problem, but as a software engineer, you need to devise the most efficient approach. One strategy could be:
- Initialize an empty hash set to store the numbers encountered.
- Iterate through the array:
- For each number, calculate the difference between the target and the current number.
- Check if the difference exists in the hash set. If it does, you’ve found the two numbers that add up to the target.
- If the difference doesn’t exist in the hash set, add the current number to the set.
The Complexity:
Using this approach, you can solve the problem in linear time complexity (O(n)), where n is the number of elements in the array.
So, did you solve it? Are you thinking like a software engineer?
If you did, congratulations! You have successfully tackled a common problem that software engineers often encounter in their projects. If you didn’t solve it, don’t worry! It’s all part of the learning process.
Remember, problem-solving is an essential skill for software engineers, and with practice and continuous learning, you’ll eventually become better at it.
Keep honing your problem-solving skills, and happy coding!