Learn and practice the Backtracking and Subsets patterns to solve coding interview problems.

Speedrun the Microsoft Coding Interview: Top Problems in Java

The optimal solution to certain problems requires examining all possibilities. If any possibility is ignored, we are unable to say with mathematical certainty that our solution is optimal. In such situations, we use a technique known as backtracking to exhaustively traverse the entire solution space and collect all the information needed to compute the optimal solution. The Subsets pattern groups together those problems where we need to systematically construct all, or, a mathematically defined subset of all, the possible subsets of a given set. Again, the technique used for the construction of such a set of subsets is, in fact, backtracking.

Go With the Flow

Try to solve the Minimum Moves to Spread Stones Over Grid problem.

Backtracking

Subsets

Conclusion

Statement