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patterns

Interval Problems

Interval problems involve ranges defined by start and end points. The core technique is sorting intervals by start time, then merging or comparing adjacent intervals. This pattern handles overlapping detection, merging, inserting new intervals, and finding gaps efficiently in O(n log n) time.

Use Cases

  • •Merging overlapping meeting times
  • •Inserting a new interval into a sorted list
  • •Finding the minimum number of meeting rooms needed

Complexity Analysis

MetricBestAverageWorst
TimeO(n log n)O(n log n)O(n log n)
SpaceO(n)

Visualization

128150123
I0:[1, 3]
I1:[2, 6]
I2:[8, 10]
I3:[15, 18]
Speed:1x
Intervals: [1,3], [2,6], [8,10], [15,18]. Merge overlapping.Step 1 / 6

Implementation

Output

Click "Run Code" to see output...