Titan Company Interview Questions and Answers

Find the shortest distance between two states in Ninjaland with at most one special path.

• Use Dijkstra's algorithm to find the shortest path between two states.

• Keep track of the shortest path with at most one special path included.

• Consider both normal and special paths while calculating the shortest distance.

• Handle cases where multiple paths exist between two states.

The problem involves finding the minimum number of direction changes needed to create a valid path from the top-left to the bottom-right corner of a 2D grid.

• Create a graph representation of the grid with directions as edges.

• Use a shortest path algorithm like Dijkstra or BFS to find the minimum number of changes needed.

• Handle edge cases like unreachable bottom-right corner or invalid input.

• Consider implementing a helper function to convert directions to movements for easier tr...read more

The N Queens Problem involves finding all possible placements of N queens on an N x N chessboard where no two queens threaten each other.

• Understand the constraints of the problem: N queens on an N x N chessboard, no two queens can threaten each other.

• Implement a backtracking algorithm to explore all possible configurations.

• Check for conflicts in rows, columns, and diagonals before placing a queen.

• Generate and print valid configurations where queens do not attack each other.

• Co...read more

Given a string and an integer, create a new string by selecting the smallest character from the first K characters of the input string and repeating the process until the input string is empty.

• Iterate through the input string, selecting the smallest character from the first K characters each time.

• Remove the selected character from the input string and append it to the new string.

• Continue this process until the input string is empty.

• Return the final new string formed after the...read more

Given an array of integers and a target, find all pairs of elements that add up to the target.

• Iterate through the array and for each element, check if the target minus the element exists in a hash set.

• If it exists, print the pair (element, target-element), otherwise add the element to the hash set.

• If no pair is found, print (-1, -1).

I would start by breaking down the problem, researching similar problems, seeking help from colleagues, and experimenting with different solutions.

• Break down the problem into smaller components to understand it better

• Research similar problems online or in relevant literature

• Seek help from colleagues or mentors who may have experience with similar problems

• Experiment with different solutions to see what works best

Find maximum capacity a thief can steal with W Knapsack capacity.

• Use dynamic programming approach.

• Sort items by their value-to-weight ratio.

• Iterate through items and update maximum value that can be stolen.

Finding the middle node of a linked list.

• Traverse the linked list with two pointers, one moving twice as fast as the other.

• When the fast pointer reaches the end, the slow pointer will be at the middle node.

• If the linked list has even number of nodes, there will be two middle nodes.

• In that case, choose either of the middle nodes as the result.