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Problem: Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array II

Hard
40 min
Explore methods to identify the minimum value in a rotated sorted array with duplicates. Understand how to apply a modified binary search technique that efficiently solves this problem with minimal operations, enabling you to tackle similar coding interview questions with confidence.

Statement

Imagine you have an array, nums, of length nn that was originally sorted in non-decreasing (ascending) order. This array has been rotated between 11 and nn times. For example, the sorted array [0,2,3,3,5,7,11][0,2,3,3,5,7,11] can become:

  • [5,7,11,0,2,3,3][5,7,11,0,2,3,3], if rotated 33 times

  • [0,2,3,3,5,7,11][0,2,3,3,5,7,11], if rotated 77 times

A single rotation moves the last element to the front. So, if the original array is [a[0],a[1],...,a[n1]][a[0], a[1], ..., a[n-1]], rotating it once produces [a[n1],a[0],a[1],...,a[n2]][a[n-1], a[0], a[1], ..., a[n-2]].

You are given a sorted, rotated array, nums, that may include duplicate elements. Your job is to return the minimum element in the array.

Try to solve this problem with the fewest possible operations.

Constraints:

  • n==n == nums.length

  • 1n10001 \leq n \leq 1000

  • 1000-1000 \leq nums[i] 1000\leq 1000

  • nums is sorted and rotated between 11 and nn times.

Problem
Ask
Submissions

Problem: Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array II

Hard
40 min
Explore methods to identify the minimum value in a rotated sorted array with duplicates. Understand how to apply a modified binary search technique that efficiently solves this problem with minimal operations, enabling you to tackle similar coding interview questions with confidence.

Statement

Imagine you have an array, nums, of length nn that was originally sorted in non-decreasing (ascending) order. This array has been rotated between 11 and nn times. For example, the sorted array [0,2,3,3,5,7,11][0,2,3,3,5,7,11] can become:

  • [5,7,11,0,2,3,3][5,7,11,0,2,3,3], if rotated 33 times

  • [0,2,3,3,5,7,11][0,2,3,3,5,7,11], if rotated 77 times

A single rotation moves the last element to the front. So, if the original array is [a[0],a[1],...,a[n1]][a[0], a[1], ..., a[n-1]], rotating it once produces [a[n1],a[0],a[1],...,a[n2]][a[n-1], a[0], a[1], ..., a[n-2]].

You are given a sorted, rotated array, nums, that may include duplicate elements. Your job is to return the minimum element in the array.

Try to solve this problem with the fewest possible operations.

Constraints:

  • n==n == nums.length

  • 1n10001 \leq n \leq 1000

  • 1000-1000 \leq nums[i] 1000\leq 1000

  • nums is sorted and rotated between 11 and nn times.