1.
Fast and Slow Pointer
Description: This technique uses two pointers moving at different speeds to solve problems
involving cycles, such as finding the middle of a list, detecting loops, or checking for palindromes.
● Linked List Cycle II
● Remove nth Node from the End of List
● Find the Duplicate Number
● Palindrome Linked List
2. Overlapping Intervals
Description: Intervals are often manipulated through sorting and merging based on their start and
end times.
● Basic Merge: Merge Intervals
● Interval Insertion: Insert Interval
● My Calendar ii
● Minimum Number of Arrows to Burst Balloons
● Non-overlapping Intervals
3. Prefix Sum
Description: Prefix Sums/Products are techniques that store cumulative sums or products up to
each index, allowing for quick subarray range queries.
● Find the middle index in array
● Product of array except self
● Maximum product subarray
● Number of ways to split array
● Range Sum Query 2D
4. Sliding Window
Description: A sliding window is a subarray or substring that moves over data to solve problems
efficiently in linear time.
Fixed Size
● Maximum Sum Subarray of Size K
● Number of Subarrays having Average Greater or Equal to Threshold
● Repeated DNA sequences
● Permutation in String
● Sliding Subarray Beauty
● Sliding Window Maximum
Variable Size
● Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters
● Minimum Size Subarray Sum
● Subarray Product Less Than K
● Max Consecutive Ones
● Fruits Into Baskets
● Count Number of Nice Subarrays
● Minimum Window Substring: Minimum Window Substring
5. Two Pointers
Description: The two pointers technique involves having two different indices move through the
input at different speeds to solve various array or linked list problems.
● Two Sum II - Input Array is Sorted
● Dutch National Flag: Sort Colors
● Next Permutation
● Bag of Tokens
● Container with most water
● Trapping Rain Water
6. Cyclic Sort (Index-Based)
Description: Cyclic sort is an efficient approach to solve problems where numbers are
consecutively ordered and must be placed in the correct index.
● Missing Number
● Find Missing Numbers
● Set Mismatch
● First Missing Positive
7. Reversal of Linked List (In-place)
Description: Reversing a linked list in place without using extra space is key for problems that
require in-place list manipulations.
● Reverse Linked List
● Reverse Nodes in k-Group
● Swap Nodes in Pairs
8. Matrix Manipulation
Description: Problems involving 2D arrays (matrices) are often solved using row-column traversal
or manipulation based on matrix properties.
● Rotate Image
● Spiral Matrix
● Set Matrix Zeroes
● Game of Life
9. Breadth First Search (BFS)
Description: BFS explores nodes level by level using a queue. It is particularly useful for shortest
path problems.
● Shortest Path in Binary Matrix
● Rotten Oranges
● As Far From Land as Possible
● Word Ladder: Word Ladder
10. Depth First Search (DFS)
Description: DFS explores as far as possible along a branch before backtracking. It's useful for
graph traversal, pathfinding, and connected components.
● Number of Closed Islands
● Coloring a Border
● DFS from boundary: Number of Enclaves
● Shortest time: Time Needed to Inform all Employees
● Cyclic Find: Find Eventual Safe States
11. Backtracking
Description: Backtracking helps in problems where you need to explore all potential solutions,
such as solving puzzles, generating combinations, or finding paths.
● Permutation ii
● Combination Sum
● Generate Parenthesis
● N-Queens
● Sudoku Solver
● Palindrome Partitioning
● Word Search: Word Search
12. Modified Binary Search
Description: A modified version of binary search that applies to rotated arrays, unsorted arrays, or
specialized conditions.
● Search in Rotated Sorted Array
● Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array
● Find Peak Element
● Single element in a sorted array
● Minimum Time to Arrive on Time
● Capacity to Ship Packages within 'd' Days
● Koko Eating Bananas
● Find in Mountain Array
● Median of Two Sorted Arrays
13. Bitwise XOR
Description: XOR is a powerful bitwise operator that can solve problems like finding single
numbers or efficiently pairing elements.
● Missing Number
● Single Number ||
● Single Number III
● Find the Original array of Prefix XOR
● XOR Queries of a Subarray
14. Top 'K' Elements
Description: This pattern uses heaps or quickselect to efficiently find the top 'K' largest/smallest
elements from a dataset.
● Top K Frequent Elements
● Kth Largest Element
● Ugly Number ii
● K Closest Points to Origin
15. K-way Merge
Description: The K-way merge technique uses a heap to efficiently merge multiple sorted lists or
arrays.
● Find K Pairs with Smallest Sums
● Kth Smallest Element in a Sorted Matrix
● Merge K Sorted Lists
● Smallest Range: Smallest Range Covering Elements from K Lists
16. Two Heaps
Description: This pattern uses two heaps (max heap and min heap) to solve problems involving
tracking medians and efficiently managing dynamic data.
● Find Median from Data Stream
● Sliding Window Median
● IPO
17. Monotonic Stack
Description: A monotonic stack helps solve range queries by maintaining a stack of elements in
increasing or decreasing order.
● Next Greater Element II
● Next Greater Node in Linked List
● Daily Temperatures
● Online Stock Span
● Maximum Width Ramp
● Largest Rectangle in Histogram
18. Trees
Level Order Traversal (BFS in Binary Tree)
● Level order Traversal
● Zigzag Level order Traversal
● Even Odd Tree
● Reverse odd Levels
● Deepest Leaves Sum
● Add one row to Tree
● Maximum width of Binary Tree
● All Nodes Distance K in Binary tree
Tree Construction
● Construct BT from Preorder and Inorder
● Construct BT from Postorder and Inorder
● Maximum Binary Tree
● Construct BST from Preorder
Height related Problems
● Maximum Depth of BT
● Balanced Binary Tree
● Diameter of Binary Tree
● Minimum Depth of BT
Root to leaf path problems
● Binary Tree Paths
● Path Sum ii
● Sum Root to Leaf numbers
● Smallest string starting from Leaf
● Insufficient nodes in root to Leaf
● Pseudo-Palindromic Paths in a Binary Tree
● Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum
Ancestor problem
● LCA of Binary Tree
● Maximum difference between node and ancestor
● LCA of deepest leaves
● Kth Ancestor of a Tree Node
Binary Search Tree
● Validate BST
● Range Sum of BST
● Minimum Absolute Difference in BST
● Insert into a BST
● LCA of BST
19. DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING
Take / Not take (DP)
Description: Solve optimization problems like selecting items with the max/min value under certain
constraints.
● House Robber ii
● Target Sum
● Partition Equal Subset Sum
● Ones and Zeroes
● Last Stone Weight ii
Infinite Supply (DP)
Description: Similar to the 0/1 knapsack, but items can be chosen multiple times.
● Coin Change
● Coin Change II
● Perfect Squares
● Minimum Cost For Tickets
Longest Increasing subsequence
Description: It involves finding the longest subsequence of a given sequence where the elements
are in ascending order
● Longest Increasing Subsequence
● Largest Divisible Subset
● Maximum Length of Pair Chain
● Number of LIS
● Longest String Chain
DP on Grids
Description: Dynamic Programming on matrices involves solving problems that can be broken
down into smaller overlapping subproblems within a matrix.
● Unique Paths ii
● Minimum Path Sum
● Triangle
● Minimum Falling Path Sum
● Maximal Square
● Cherry Pickup
● Dungeon Game: Dungeon Game
DP on Strings
Description: It Involves 2 strings, whenever you are considering two substrings/subsequence from
given two strings, concentrate on what happens when the last characters of the two substrings are
same, i.e, matching.
● Longest Common Subsequence
● Longest Palindromic Subsequence
● Palindromic Substrings
● Longest Palindromic Substrings
● Edit Distance
● Minimum ASCII Delete Sum for Two Strings
● Distinct Subsequences
● Shortest Common Supersequence
● Wildcard Matching
DP on Stocks
Description: It focuses on maximizing profit from buying and selling stocks over time while
considering constraints.
● Buy and Sell Stocks ii
● Buy and Sell Stocks iii
● Buy and Sell Stocks iv
● Buy and Sell Stocks with Cooldown
● Buy and Sell Stocks with Transaction fee
Partition DP (MCM)
Description: It Involves a sequence that needs to be divided into partitions in an optimal way. The
goal is often to minimize or maximize a cost function, such as computation time, multiplications, or
some other metric, by exploring all possible partitions and combining results from subproblems.
● Partition array for Maximum Sum
● Burst Balloons
● Minimum Cost to Cut a Stick
● Palindrome Partitioning ii
20. Graphs
Topological Sort
Description: Topological sorting is useful for tasks that require dependency resolution (InDegree) in
directed acyclic graphs (DAGs).
● Course Schedule
● Course Schedule II
● Strange Printer ii
● Sequence Reconstruction
● Alien Dictionary
Union Find (Disjoint Set)
Description: Union-Find (or Disjoint Set) is used to solve problems involving connectivity or
grouping, often in graphs.
● Number of Operations to Make Network Connected
● Redundant Connection
● Accounts Merge
● Satisfiability of Equality Equations
Graph Algorithms
Description: Advanced graph algorithms are used to solve complex problems involving shortest
paths, minimum spanning trees, and graph cycles.
● Kruskal's Algorithm: Minimum Cost to connect all Points
● Dijkstra's Algorithm: Cheapest Flights Within K Stops
● Floyd-Warshall: Find the City with Smallest Number of Neighbours at a Threshold Distance
● Bellman Ford: Network Delay time
21. Greedy
Description: Greedy algorithms make local optimal choices at each step, which lead to a global
optimal solution for problems like scheduling and resource allocation.
● Jump Game ii
● Gas Station
● Bag of Tokens
● Boats to Save People
● Wiggle Subsequence
● Car Pooling
● Candy
22. Design Data Structure
Description: It involves building custom data structures to efficiently handle specific operations,
like managing data access, updates, and memory usage. Focusing on optimizing performance and
resource management.
● Design Twitter
● Design Browser History
● Design Circular Deque
● Snapshot Array
● LRU Cache
● LFU Cache
