Question

I am looking for a fast algorithm:

I have a int array of size n, the goal is to find all patterns in the array that

x1, x2, x3 are different elements in the array, such that x1+x2 = x3

For example I know there’s a int array of size 3 is [1, 2, 3] then there’s only one possibility: 1+2 = 3 (consider 1+2 = 2+1)

I am thinking about implementing Pairs and Hashmaps to make the algorithm fast. (the fastest one I got now is still O(n^2))

Please share your idea for this problem, thank you

Answer 1

Edit: The answer below applies to a version of this problem in which you only want one triplet that adds up like that. When you want all of them, since there are potentially at least O(n^2) possible outputs (as pointed out by ex0du5), and even O(n^3) in pathological cases of repeated elements, you’re not going to beat the simple O(n^2) algorithm based on hashing (mapping from a value to the list of indices with that value).

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This is basically the 3SUM problem. Without potentially unboundedly large elements, the best known algorithms are approximately O(n^2), but we’ve only proved that it can’t be faster than O(n lg n) for most models of computation.

If the integer elements lie in the range [u, v], you can do a slightly different version of this in O(n + (v-u) lg (v-u)) with an FFT. I’m going to describe a process to transform this problem into that one, solve it there, and then figure out the answer to your problem based on this transformation.

The problem that I know how to solve with FFT is to find a length-3 arithmetic sequence in an array: that is, a sequence a, b, c with c - b = b - a, or equivalently, a + c = 2b.

Unfortunately, the last step of the transformation back isn’t as fast as I’d like, but I’ll talk about that when we get there.

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Let’s call your original array X, which contains integers x_1, ..., x_n. We want to find indices i, j, k such that x_i + x_j = x_k.

1. Find the minimum u and maximum v of X in O(n) time. Let u' be min(u, u*2) and v' be max(v, v*2).

2. Construct a binary array (bitstring) Z of length v' - u' + 1; Z[i] will be true if either X or its double [x_1*2, ..., x_n*2] contains u' + i. This is O(n) to initialize; just walk over each element of X and set the two corresponding elements of Z.

   As we’re building this array, we can save the indices of any duplicates we find into an auxiliary list Y. Once Z is complete, we just check for 2 * x_i for each x_i in Y. If any are present, we’re done; otherwise the duplicates are irrelevant, and we can forget about Y. (The only situation slightly more complicated is if 0 is repeated; then we need three distinct copies of it to get a solution.)

   Now, a solution to your problem, i.e. x_i + x_j = x_k, will appear in Z as three evenly-spaced ones, since some simple algebraic manipulations give us 2*x_j - x_k = x_k - 2*x_i. Note that the elements on the ends are our special doubled entries (from 2X) and the one in the middle is a regular entry (from X).

3. Consider Z as a representation of a polynomial p, where the coefficient for the term of degree i is Z[i]. If X is [1, 2, 3, 5], then Z is 1111110001 (because we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10); p is then 1 + x + x² + x³ + x⁴ + x⁵ + x⁹.

   Now, remember from high school algebra that the coefficient of x^c in the product of two polynomials is the sum over all a, b with a + b = c of the first polynomial’s coefficient for x^a times the second’s coefficient for x^b. So, if we consider q = p², the coefficient of x^2j (for a j with Z[j] = 1) will be the sum over all i of Z[i] * Z[2*j - i]. But since Z is binary, that’s exactly the number of triplets i,j,k which are evenly-spaced ones in Z. Note that (j, j, j) is always such a triplet, so we only care about ones with values > 1.

   We can then use a Fast Fourier Transform to find p² in O(|Z| log |Z|) time, where |Z| is v' - u' + 1. We get out another array of coefficients; call it W.

4. Loop over each x_k in X. (Recall that our desired evenly-spaced ones are all centered on an element of X, not 2*X.) If the corresponding W for twice this element, i.e. W[2*(x_k - u')], is 1, we know it’s not the center of any nontrivial progressions and we can skip it. (As argued before, it should only be a positive integer.)

   Otherwise, it might be the center of a progression that we want (so we need to find i and j). But, unfortunately, it might also be the center of a progression that doesn’t have our desired form. So we need to check. Loop over the other elements x_i of X, and check if there’s a triple with 2*x_i, x_k, 2*x_j for some j (by checking Z[2*(x_k - x_j) - u']). If so, we have an answer; if we make it through all of X without a hit, then the FFT found only spurious answers, and we have to check another element of W.

   This last step is therefore O(n * 1 + (number of x_k with W[2*(x_k – u’)] > 1 that aren’t actually solutions)), which is maybe possibly O(n^2), which is obviously not okay. There should be a way to avoid generating these spurious answers in the output W; if we knew that any appropriate W coefficient definitely had an answer, this last step would be O(n) and all would be well.

   I think it’s possible to use a somewhat different polynomial to do this, but I haven’t gotten it to actually work. I’ll think about it some more….

Partially based on this answer.