Count shortest distance in array
Last updated: March 4, 2026
Quick Overview
Given an array of integers, count the number of occurrences of the shortest distance between any two elements in the array. The shortest distance is defined as the minimum absolute difference between the indices of two identical elements. Your function should return an integer representing this count.
ServiceNow
March 4, 20266
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Given an array of integers, count the number of occurrences of the shortest distance between any two elements in the array. The shortest distance is defined as the minimum absolute difference between the indices of two identical elements. Your function should return an integer representing this count.
This coding problem is frequently asked during Phone Screen at ServiceNow. The interviewer is testing your ability to translate a problem into clean, working code while discussing time and space complexity. ServiceNow 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
- How would you test this solution thoroughly?
- Can you solve this in a single pass?
- How would you parallelize this solution?
- How would you modify your solution to handle streaming input?
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Problem Analysis
To solve this problem, we can leverage a dictionary (hash map) to keep track of the indices of each element in the given array. The key insight is to use the concept of tracking the last seen index of...
Approach
- Initialize a dictionary to keep track of the last seen index of each element and a variable to store the minimum distance found (initialized to infinity).
- Loop through the array with an index:...
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