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7. Maximum Subarray

easyAsked at Duolingo

Find the contiguous subarray with the largest sum.

By Alex Chen, Founder, InterviewChamp.AI · Last verified

Problem

Given an integer array nums, find the contiguous subarray (at least one number) which has the largest sum and return that sum.

Constraints

  • 1 <= nums.length <= 10^5
  • -10^4 <= nums[i] <= 10^4

Examples

Example 1

Input
nums = [-2,1,-3,4,-1,2,1,-5,4]
Output
6

Example 2

Input
nums = [1]
Output
1

Approaches

1. Brute force

Try every (i, j) subarray sum.

Time
O(n^2)
Space
O(1)
let best = -Infinity;
for (let i=0;i<nums.length;i++) {
  let sum=0;
  for (let j=i;j<nums.length;j++) { sum+=nums[j]; best=Math.max(best,sum); }
}

Tradeoff:

2. Kadane

Track best ending here vs reset; global max is the running best. Single pass, constant space.

Time
O(n)
Space
O(1)
function maxSubArray(nums) {
  let best = nums[0], cur = nums[0];
  for (let i = 1; i < nums.length; i++) {
    cur = Math.max(nums[i], cur + nums[i]);
    best = Math.max(best, cur);
  }
  return best;
}

Tradeoff:

Duolingo-specific tips

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