Count connected components in interval list
Last updated: November 18, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a list of intervals, write a function to count the number of connected components formed by overlapping intervals. An interval is represented as a pair of integers [start, end], and two intervals are considered connected if they overlap or touch. The function should take a list of intervals as input and return the total number of connected components as an integer.
Bloomberg
November 18, 202555
9
1,916 solved
Given a list of intervals, write a function to count the number of connected components formed by overlapping intervals. An interval is represented as a pair of integers [start, end], and two intervals are considered connected if they overlap or touch. The function should take a list of intervals as input and return the total number of connected components as an integer.
This coding problem is frequently asked during Take-home Project at Bloomberg. The interviewer is testing your ability to translate a problem into clean, working code while discussing time and space complexity. Bloomberg expects candidates to write production-quality code, not just solve the puzzle.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Identify the correct data structure and algorithm for the problem
- Write clean, bug-free code with proper variable naming
- Analyze time and space complexity correctly
- Handle basic edge cases (empty input, single element)
- Communicate your thought process while coding
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
- Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
- Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
- Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
- Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- Can you optimize the space complexity of your solution?
- What is the worst-case input for your solution?
- Can you solve this in a single pass?
- How would you test this solution thoroughly?
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Problem Analysis
To solve the problem of counting connected components in a list of intervals, we can identify that this problem relates to merging overlapping intervals. When two intervals overlap or touch, they belo...
Approach
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Sort the intervals: Begin by sorting the list of intervals based on their start times. This allows us to efficiently determine overlaps.
Example: For intervals
[[1, 3], [2, 4], [5, 6]], ...
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