Think you have graphs and traversal algorithms mastered? Think again! Many popular LeetCode questions secretly rely on graph theory and path finding, even if they don’t explicitly mention it.
In this mind-blowing blog post, we dive deep into the hidden graph structures lurking within tricky LeetCode challenges. We’ll explore how unlabeled questions about islands, word ladders, jumping games, and more can be efficiently solved with BFS, DFS, and other graph techniques.
You’ll never look at path finding the same way again after uncovering the secret connections between dynamic programming, backtracking, and graph theory. Stop wasting time grinding inefficient solutions!
Gain a competitive edge by learning to recognize and leverage hidden graphs and paths in LeetCode and interview questions. The techniques revealed in this blog will level up your skills as a coder and algorithmic thinker.
Don’t miss out on this insider knowledge! Read the blog post now and become a LeetCode master.
Here are some examples of untagged LeetCode questions that still rely heavily on BFS, DFS, and graph algorithms:
Number of Islands (Question 200)
This question involves finding connected components in a 2D grid, which is a classic graph algorithm problem. Even though it doesn’t have BFS or DFS tags, the most common solutions use a DFS traversal of the grid to count islands.
Word Ladder (Question 127)
This question involves finding the shortest path between two words by modifying one letter at a time. It requires modeling the words as a graph and using BFS to find the shortest path.
N-ary Tree Maximum Path Sum (Question 564)
This involves finding the maximum path sum in an n-ary tree, which requires traversing all paths in the tree either with DFS or BFS.
Unique Paths I (Question 62)
This question requires finding all possible unique paths in a grid from top left to bottom right. Dynamic programming is commonly used but it has an underlying graph structure.
Many LeetCode questions involve standard graph algorithms like BFS and DFS even if they aren’t explicitly tagged that way. Recognizing the underlying graph structure and knowing when to apply BFS vs DFS is key to efficiently solving these interview questions. So be sure to practice these techniques even if a question doesn’t mention graphs directly!