solve: linkedListCycle, findMinimumInRotatedSortedArray

Author: GaggleHelena

find-minimum-in-rotated-sorted-array/yolophg.py

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Time Complexity: O(log n) - using binary search, so cut the search space in half each time.
+# Space Complexity: O(1) - only use a few variables (low, high, mid), no extra space.
+
+class Solution:
+    def findMin(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:
+        low = 0
+        # start with the full range of the array
+        high = len(nums) - 1  
+
+        # find the middle index
+        while low < high:
+            mid = low + (high - low) // 2  
+
+            # if mid is greater than the last element, the min must be on the right
+            if nums[mid] > nums[high]:
+                # move the low pointer to the right
+                low = mid + 1  
+            else:
+                # min could be mid or in the left part
+                high = mid  
+        # low and high converge to the minimum element
+        return nums[low]

linked-list-cycle/yolophg.py

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+# Time Complexity: O(n) - traverse the linked list at most once.
+# Space Complexity: O(1) - only use two pointers, no extra memory.
+
+class Solution:
+    def hasCycle(self, head: Optional[ListNode]) -> bool:
+        # two pointers for fast moves twice as fast as slow.
+        fast = head
+        slow = head
+
+        # loop the list while fast and fast.next exist.
+        while fast and fast.next:
+            # move fast pointer two steps.
+            fast = fast.next.next
+            # move slow pointer one step.
+            slow = slow.next
+
+            # if they meet, there's a cycle.
+            if fast == slow:
+                return True
+    return False
+