LeetCode #724 Find Pivot Index

Easy

Len Chen
1 min readSep 15, 2018

Problem

Given an array of integers nums, write a method that returns the "pivot" index of this array.

We define the pivot index as the index where the sum of the numbers to the left of the index is equal to the sum of the numbers to the right of the index.

If no such index exists, we should return -1. If there are multiple pivot indexes, you should return the left-most pivot index.

Example 1:

Input: 
nums = [1, 7, 3, 6, 5, 6]
Output: 3
Explanation:
The sum of the numbers to the left of index 3 (nums[3] = 6) is equal to the sum of numbers to the right of index 3.
Also, 3 is the first index where this occurs.

Example 2:

Input: 
nums = [1, 2, 3]
Output: -1
Explanation:
There is no index that satisfies the conditions in the problem statement.

Note:

  • The length of nums will be in the range [0, 10000].
  • Each element nums[i] will be an integer in the range [-1000, 1000].

Solution

Use rest to save sum of elements which are right to current element and sums to save those are left to current element. Modify these two params at each iteration by adding element to sums and reducing in rest.

Complexity

This approach only takes O(1) time for each iteration, which means it only takes O(n) time totally with O(1) extra space.

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Len Chen
Len Chen

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