Police and Thieves

Problem Statement

Pattern:

---

Solution

public int catchThieves(char[] arr, int n, int k) {
	int t = 0, p = 0, caught = 0;
	// set p and t
	while (p < n && arr[p] != 'P') p++;
	while (t < n && arr[t] != 'T') t++;
	
	while (t < n && p < n) {
		// out of range
		if (Math.abs(t - p) > k) {
			if (t > p) do p++; while (p < n && arr[p] != 'P');
			else do t++; while (t < n && arr[t] != 'T');
		}
		
		// in range
		else {
			caught++;
			do p++; while (p < n && arr[p] != 'P');
			do t++; while (t < n && arr[t] != 'T');
		}
	}
	return caught;
}

Notes

• we alott policement to theives in the order that they appear.
• tboptimised
  • understand why other approaches dont work, and why this works
  • [ ]
  • Mock Coding Interview with incoming SDE at Microsoft - @Nishant Chahar, YouTuber with 50K+ subs - YouTube

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