I was asked the following interview question over the phone:
Given an array of integers, produce an array whose values are the product of every other integer excluding the current index.
Example:
[4, 3, 2, 8] -> [3*2*8, 4*2*8, 4*3*8, 4*3*2] -> [48, 64, 96, 24]
and I gave the following answer
import java.math.BigInteger;
import java.util.Arrays;
public class ProductOfAnArray {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ProductOfAnArray
.calcArray(new int[] { 4, 3, 2, 8 })));
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ProductOfAnArray
.calcArray(new int[] { 4, 0, 2, 8 })));
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ProductOfAnArray
.calcArray(new int[] { 4, 0, 2, 0 })));
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ProductOfAnArray
.calcArray(new int[] {})));
System.out
.println(Arrays.toString(ProductOfAnArray
.calcArray(new int[] { 4, 3, 2, 8, 3, 2, 4, 6, 7,
3, 2, 4 })));
System.out
.println(Arrays.toString(ProductOfAnArray
.calcArray(new int[] { 4, 3, 2, 8, 3, 2, 4, 6, 7,
3, 2, 4 })));
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ProductOfAnArray
.calcArray(new int[] { 4432432, 23423423, 34234, 23423428,
4324243, 24232, 2342344, 64234234, 4324247,
4234233, 234422, 234244 })));
} catch (Exception e) {
// debug exception here and log.
}
}
/*
* Problem: Given an array of integers, produce an array whose values are
* the product of every other integer excluding the current index.
*
* Assumptions. Input array cannot be modified. input is an integer array
* "produce an array" - type not specified for output array
*
* Logic explanation:
*
* Assume we have array [a,b,c,d] Let multiple be multiple of each element
* in array. Hence multiple = 0 if one of the element is 0; To produce the
* output. Ans at i -> multiple divided by the value at i. if 2 numbers are
* 0 then entire output will be 0 because atleast one 0 will be a multiple
* if 1 number is 0 then every thing else will be 0 except that index whole
* value is to be determined
*
*/
public static BigInteger[] calcArray(final int[] inp) throws Exception {
if (inp == null)
throw new Exception("input is null");
int cnt = 0;
BigInteger multiple = new BigInteger("1");
boolean foundZero = false;
for (int i : inp) {
if (i == 0) {
cnt++;
foundZero = true;
if (cnt < 2)
continue;
else
break;
}
multiple = multiple.multiply(BigInteger.valueOf(i));
}
BigInteger ans[] = new BigInteger[inp.length];
for (int i = 0; i < inp.length; i++) {
if (foundZero) {
if (cnt < 2) {
ans[i] = (inp[i] == 0) ? multiple : new BigInteger("0");
} else {
ans[i] = new BigInteger("0");
}
} else {
ans[i] = multiple.divide(BigInteger.valueOf(inp[i]));
}
}
return ans;
}
}
But I was not selected. I would like to get feedback on my answer and see what's wrong.
product of all elements/inp[i]
\$\endgroup\$