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Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns in Go

Circular Array Loop

Understand how to detect cycles in circular arrays by using fast and slow pointer techniques. Learn to determine if a cycle exists where all numbers have the same sign and cycle length is greater than one. This lesson helps you apply cycle detection patterns to solve complex interview problems involving circular lists.

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Statement

There is a circular list of non-zero integers called nums. Each number in the list tells you how many steps to move forward or backward from your current position:

  • If nums[i] is positive, move nums[i] steps forward.

  • If nums[i] is negative, move nums[i] steps backward.

As the list is circular:

  • Moving forward from the last element takes you back to the first element.

  • Moving backward from the first element takes you to the last element.

A cycle in this list means:

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