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This is a medium difficulty Coding & Algorithms question, commonly asked during Onsite rounds at Apple.

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This question is commonly asked for Machine Learning Engineer candidates at Apple during technical interviews.

Solve stock and banana problems | Apple Coding Question

Quick Overview

This question evaluates algorithmic problem-solving skills related to array processing, optimization under constraints, and reasoning about performance trade-offs by presenting a maximum single-transaction stock profit problem and a minimum banana-eating speed problem.

Solve stock and banana problems

Company: Apple

Role: Machine Learning Engineer

Category: Coding & Algorithms

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: Onsite

Solve both coding problems below. 1. **Maximum single-transaction stock profit**: Given an array `prices` where `prices[i]` is the stock price on day `i`, return the maximum profit obtainable by choosing one day to buy and a later day to sell. If no profit is possible, return `0`. 2. **Minimum banana-eating speed**: Given an array `piles` where `piles[i]` is the number of bananas in pile `i`, and an integer `h` representing the total number of hours available, find the minimum integer eating speed `k` such that a monkey can finish all piles within `h` hours. In one hour, the monkey chooses one pile and eats up to `k` bananas from that pile. For each problem, explain your algorithm and analyze time and space complexity.

Quick Answer: This question evaluates algorithmic problem-solving skills related to array processing, optimization under constraints, and reasoning about performance trade-offs by presenting a maximum single-transaction stock profit problem and a minimum banana-eating speed problem.

Part 1: Maximum Single-Transaction Stock Profit

You are given an array `prices` where `prices[i]` is the stock price on day `i`. Choose one day to buy the stock and a later day to sell it. Return the maximum profit you can achieve from this single transaction. If no profitable transaction is possible, return `0`. A good algorithm scans the array once, keeping track of the minimum price seen so far and the best profit seen so far.

Constraints

0 <= len(prices) <= 100000
0 <= prices[i] <= 100000

Examples

Input: ([7, 1, 5, 3, 6, 4],)

Expected Output: 5

Explanation: Buy at 1 and sell later at 6 for a profit of 5.

Input: ([7, 6, 4, 3, 1],)

Expected Output: 0

Explanation: Prices keep decreasing, so no profitable sell is possible.

Input: ([],)

Expected Output: 0

Explanation: With no prices, no transaction can be made.

Input: ([5],)

Expected Output: 0

Explanation: With only one day, you cannot both buy and sell later.

Input: ([2, 4, 1],)

Expected Output: 2

Explanation: Buy at 2 and sell at 4 for a profit of 2.

Hints

As you move from left to right, what is the only information you need from previous days to evaluate selling today?
Keep track of the lowest price seen so far, then compare each current price against it.

Part 2: Minimum Banana-Eating Speed

You are given an array `piles` where `piles[i]` is the number of bananas in the `i`th pile, and an integer `h` representing the number of hours available. In one hour, the monkey chooses exactly one pile and eats up to `k` bananas from that pile. Find the minimum integer eating speed `k` such that all bananas can be eaten within `h` hours. A strong approach uses binary search on the answer: if a given speed works, then any faster speed also works.

Constraints

1 <= len(piles) <= 10000
1 <= piles[i] <= 1000000000
len(piles) <= h <= 1000000000

Examples

Input: ([3, 6, 7, 11], 8)

Expected Output: 4

Explanation: At speed 4, the hours needed are 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 8, which fits exactly.

Input: ([30, 11, 23, 4, 20], 5)

Expected Output: 30

Explanation: There are 5 piles and only 5 hours, so each pile must be finished in one hour. The largest pile requires speed 30.

Input: ([30, 11, 23, 4, 20], 6)

Expected Output: 23

Explanation: Speed 23 works in 6 hours, but any smaller speed takes more than 6 hours.

Input: ([1], 1)

Expected Output: 1

Explanation: One banana in one hour requires a minimum speed of 1.

Hints

For a fixed speed `k`, compute the total hours by summing the ceiling of `pile / k` for each pile.
If speed `k` is fast enough, then any speed greater than `k` is also fast enough. That monotonic property suggests binary search.

Quick Overview