Maximize area between vertical lines
Company: Oracle
Role: Software Engineer
Category: Coding & Algorithms
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Technical Screen
## Problem
You are given an integer array `h` where `h[i]` represents the height of a vertical line drawn at x-coordinate `i`.
Choose **two different indices** `i < j`. Together with the x-axis, these two lines form a container that can hold water.
The amount of water the container can hold is:
\[
\text{area}(i, j) = (j - i) \times \min(h[i], h[j])
\]
Return the **maximum possible area** over all pairs `(i, j)`.
### Input
- `h`: array of non-negative integers
### Output
- An integer: the maximum area
### Constraints (typical interview constraints)
- `2 <= len(h) <= 10^5`
- `0 <= h[i] <= 10^4`
Quick Answer: This question evaluates algorithmic reasoning with arrays and the ability to optimize pairwise measurements, specifically assessing understanding of how positional distance and element values combine to maximize an area metric.