Question 1

How do you reverse a linked list?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — no prior algorithms knowledge assumed
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** Every idea is explained in plain language first, then tagged with `📌 Interview term:` so you also learn the exact word an interviewer expects. All code is Python, and every output block in the **Verified** section was copied from a real run of the examples on this page.

## 1. Why This Even Matters — A Story First

Pictur

Question 2

How does binary search work and what are its requirements?

Accepted Answer

# How Binary Search Works and What It Requires (Python)

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews; you only need to know arrays and loops.
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** Every idea is explained in plain language first, then tagged with `📌 Interview term:` so you also learn the exact word an interviewer expects. All code is Python, and every output block was produced by actually running the programs (Python 3.13.16); nothing is quot

Question 3

How do you solve the climbing stairs problem?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews; this is usually the first dynamic programming problem people meet.
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** every idea is explained in plain words first. When a word appears that an interviewer will expect you to know, it is tagged `📌 Interview term:` with a one-line definition, and every tagged term is collected in the Quick Glossary at the end. Every program on this page was actually run, and the o

Question 4

What is the fast and slow pointer technique?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — no prior algorithms knowledge assumed
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** Every idea is explained in plain language first, then tagged with `📌 Interview term:` so you also learn the exact word an interviewer expects. All code is Python, and every output block in the **Verified** section was copied from a real run of the examples on this page.

## 1. Why This Even Matters — A Story First

A tort

Question 5

What is a graph, and how do you represent it?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — no graph knowledge needed, just arrays and loops  
**Difficulty:** Easy  
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** every idea is explained in plain words first. When a word appears that an interviewer will expect you to know, it is tagged `📌 Interview term:` with a one-line definition, and every tagged term is collected in the Quick Glossary at the end. Every program on this page was actually run, and the output you see

Question 6

How do you find the intersection node of two linked lists?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — you should know what a linked list node is; everything else is explained
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** Every idea is explained in plain language first, then tagged with `📌 Interview term:` so you also learn the exact word an interviewer expects. All code is Python, and every output block in the **Verified** section was copied from a real run of the examples on this page.

## 1. Why This E

Question 7

How do you find the missing number in 0..n?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — you should know what an array and a loop are; nothing else is assumed.
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** Each idea is explained in plain language first, then tagged with `📌 Interview term:` so you also learn the exact words an interviewer expects. Every output shown in the **Verified** section was produced by actually running the Python code with `python3 main.py`; nothing is quoted from memo

Question 8

How do you find the best time to buy and sell a stock?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — you only need to know loops and variables in Python.  
**Difficulty:** Easy  
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** every idea is explained in plain words first. When a word appears that an interviewer will expect you to know, it is tagged `📌 Interview term:` with a one-line definition, and every tagged term is collected in the Quick Glossary at the end. Every program on this page was actually run, and the output you

Question 9

How do you merge two sorted linked lists?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — no prior algorithms knowledge assumed
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** Every idea is explained in plain language first, then tagged with `📌 Interview term:` so you also learn the exact word an interviewer expects. All code is Python, and every output block in the **Verified** section was copied from a real run of the examples on this page.

## 1. Why This Even Matters — A Story First

Two te

Question 10

How do you add one to a number represented as a digit array?

Accepted Answer

**Target Audience:** Beginners preparing for coding interviews — you only need Python lists and loops.
**Difficulty:** Easy
**Language:** Python 3

> **How to read this doc:** Each idea is explained in plain language first, then tagged with `📌 Interview term:` so you also learn the word an interviewer expects. Every program here was run with `python3`, and the output shown in the **Verified** section is copied from that run.

## 1. Why This Even Matters — A Story First

Picture an old car odome

DATA STRUCTURES & ALGORITHMSDECODED.

Easy

How do you reverse a linked list?

How does binary search work and what are its requirements?

How do you solve the climbing stairs problem?

What is the fast and slow pointer technique?

What is a graph, and how do you represent it?

How do you find the intersection node of two linked lists?

How do you find the missing number in 0..n?

How do you find the best time to buy and sell a stock?

Medium

What is topological sort and when is it used?

What is dynamic programming?

How do you find the lowest common ancestor in a binary tree?

How do you find the k closest points to the origin?

How do you solve the 0/1 knapsack problem?

How do you solve the course schedule (prerequisites) problem?

How does Quickselect find the kth smallest/largest element?

How do you check if a binary tree is balanced?

Hard

Sliding window median: how do you maintain median with two heaps as the window slides?

How does the KMP string-matching algorithm work?

How do you merge k sorted lists?

How does the Floyd-Warshall algorithm work?

How do you serialize and deserialize a binary tree?

Count of smaller numbers after self with Fenwick tree — how to coordinate compress?

How does the Bellman-Ford algorithm work?

How do you solve the trapping rain water problem?