List Point Pairs Spanning Non-Degenerate Boxes in N Dimensions, Sorted by Volume
Company: Microsoft
Role: Software Engineer
Category: Coding & Algorithms
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Technical Screen
You are given `n` points in `d`-dimensional space; point `i` (0-based) has integer coordinates `points[i]`. Any two points `i < j` define an axis-aligned box that has the two points as opposite corners. The box's volume is the product, over all `d` axes, of the absolute difference between the two points' coordinates on that axis. In two dimensions the box is a rectangle and its volume is the rectangle's area; the same function must work for every dimension `d` in the stated range.
Return every pair of points whose box has a non-zero volume, together with that volume.
### Function Signature
```python
def box_volumes(points: List[List[int]]) -> List[List[int]]:
```
### Rules
- Each reported pair is a list `[i, j, volume]` with `i < j`, where `i` and `j` are indices into `points`.
- A pair whose volume is 0 (the two points share a coordinate on at least one axis, including identical points) is not reported.
- Order the result by volume descending; break ties by `i` ascending, then by `j` ascending.
- Return an empty list when no pair qualifies.
### Constraints
- `1 <= n <= 300`
- `2 <= d <= 6`, and every point has exactly `d` coordinates
- `-100 <= points[i][k] <= 100`
- Every volume is at most `200^6 = 6.4 * 10^13`, which fits in a 64-bit integer and stays below `2^53`
### Examples
**Example 1**
```
points = [[1, 1], [4, 3], [1, 5], [3, 0]]
output = [[2, 3, 10], [0, 1, 6], [1, 2, 6], [1, 3, 3], [0, 3, 2]]
```
Points 0 and 2 share the x-coordinate 1, so their rectangle has zero area and is left out. Pairs (0, 1) and (1, 2) both have area 6 and are ordered by their first index.
**Example 2**
```
points = [[0, 0, 0], [2, 3, 1], [2, 1, 4]]
output = [[0, 2, 8], [0, 1, 6]]
```
Points 1 and 2 share the first coordinate, so their box is flat and is left out.
**Example 3**
```
points = [[5, 5]]
output = []
```
Overview: A coding problem that takes points in two or more dimensions, finds every pair whose axis-aligned box has non-zero volume, and returns those pairs with their volumes in a strict order. It tests careful pair enumeration, handling of flat or degenerate boxes, and deterministic sorting with tie-breaks.
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