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Two Sum Problem

Snippet info

Language

Java

Visibility

public

Author

hospino11

Created

2026-01-22T04:24:15.16574Z

Updated

2026-01-22T14:39:16.138864Z

import java.util.List;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.HashMap;

class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        /**
         * Given an array of integers nums and an integer target, return indices of the two numbers such that they add up to target.
         * 
         * Assumptions:
         * - Each input has exactly one solution
         * - Cannot use the same element twice
         * - Return indices in any order
         * 
         * Example:
         * 
         * Input: nums = [3, 2, 4], target = 6
         * Output: [1, 2]  // because nums[1] + nums[2] = 2 + 4 = 6
         */
         
         final int target = 6;
         final int[] nums = {3, 2, 4};
         
         // Alright! I have to find the indexes of the numbers from the array 
         // that combined are equals to the target number
         
         // The first approach that comes to my mind is using nested loops, where the outter loop picks each 
         // number (numA) and the inner loop allows to sum up and check if the sum is equals to the target
         
         // We can store the indexes found in this array
         List<Integer> output = new ArrayList<>();
         
         // This flag will allow stopping the process if the numbers were found
         boolean numbersFound = false;
         
         // This is not the efficient approach
         for (int i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) {
             int numA = nums[i];
             for (int j = 0; j < nums.length; j++) {
                 if (i != j) {
                     int numB = nums[j];
                     // If they combined are equals to the target, then we stop the process setting the flag as true
                     if (numA + numB == target) {
                         output.add(i);
                         output.add(j);
                         numbersFound = true;
                         break;
                     }
                 }
             }
             // If we found the numbers then we stop the outer loop
             if (numbersFound) {
                 break;
             }
         }
         
         System.out.println(output);
         
         output.clear();
         
         // A better approach is storing the numbers and the indexes in a Map collectior
         // Then we can calculate "remanent = target - currentNumber" and check if this number is in the
         // Map collection. Otherwise, we put the number with its index in the collection. 
         // This will allow to traverse the array once
         
         Map<Integer, Integer> numbersProcessed = new HashMap<>();
         
         for (int k = 0; k < nums.length; k++) {
             int currentNum = nums[k];
             int remanent = target - currentNum;
             
             if (numbersProcessed.containsKey(remanent)) {
                 output.add(numbersProcessed.get(remanent));
                 output.add(k);
             } else {
                 numbersProcessed.put(currentNum, k);
             }
         }
         
         System.out.println(output);
    }
}
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