MergeIntervals Flashcards
(16 cards)
What is the merge intervals pattern primarily concerned with?
Working with time ranges that might overlap
How is an interval defined in the merge intervals pattern?
By a start and an end point
What does the interval [10, 20] represent?
The range starts at 10 and ends at 20
How can we tell if two intervals overlap?
If the start time of one interval is less than or equal to the end time of the other interval
What is the first step in applying the merge intervals pattern?
Sort the intervals based on their start times
Why is sorting the intervals important in the merge intervals pattern?
It ensures that for any two intervals, the start time of the second interval is always greater than or equal to the start time of the first
What should you do if two intervals overlap?
Merge the two intervals into one and add the merged interval to a new list
How do you merge two overlapping intervals?
Take the smallest start and largest end times from the two intervals
What would be the merged interval of [1, 4] and [3, 6]?
[1, 6]
What are some real-world applications of the merge intervals pattern?
- Scheduling events without conflicts
- Managing resource usage
- Finding free or busy time slots
- Combining overlapping data ranges
What is one example problem that can be solved using the merge intervals pattern?
Given a sorted list of intervals, merge all overlapping intervals
What is required for a problem to match the merge intervals pattern?
- Array of intervals
- Overlapping intervals
What is a real-world problem that involves displaying a busy schedule?
Display the busy hours of a user without revealing individual meeting slots
What is a task scheduling problem in operating systems related to merge intervals?
Schedule tasks for the OS based on task priority and free slots
Fill in the blank: The merge intervals pattern helps eliminate _______.
[redundancy]
We are given an array of closed intervals called intervals, where each interval has a start time and an end time and is represented as intervals[i] = [starti, endi]. Your task is to merge the overlapping intervals and return a new output array consisting of only the non-overlapping intervals.
The optimized approach starts by sorting the intervals in ascending order based on their start times. This step ensures overlapping intervals are positioned next to each other, making identifying and merging them easier. Once sorted, the algorithm initializes a result list with the first interval. It then iterates through the remaining intervals one by one, comparing each to the last interval in the result list.
If the current interval overlaps with the last one in the result (i.e., its start time is less than or equal to the end time of the last interval), the two intervals are merged by updating the end time to the maximum of both intervals’ end times. If there is no overlap, the current interval is added to the result list as a new entry. This process continues until all intervals have been processed. In the end, the result list contains the merged, non-overlapping intervals.
