Find connected components in interval list
Last updated: November 7, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a list of intervals, your task is to find all connected components, where two intervals are considered connected if they overlap or touch. Return a list of merged intervals representing each connected component. For example, given the input intervals [[1, 3], [2, 4], [5, 7]], the output should be [[1, 4], [5, 7]].
Booking.com
November 7, 202590
14
1,666 solved
Given a list of intervals, your task is to find all connected components, where two intervals are considered connected if they overlap or touch. Return a list of merged intervals representing each connected component. For example, given the input intervals [[1, 3], [2, 4], [5, 7]], the output should be [[1, 4], [5, 7]].
This coding problem is frequently asked during Onsite at Booking.com. The interviewer is testing your ability to translate a problem into clean, working code while discussing time and space complexity. Booking.com 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
- What is the worst-case input for your solution?
- What happens if the input contains duplicates?
- How would your solution change if the input was sorted?
- How would you test this solution thoroughly?
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Problem Analysis
The problem at hand requires finding connected components within a list of intervals. Two intervals are considered connected if they overlap or touch. This suggests the use of a sorting and **merg...
Approach
- Sort the Intervals: Start by sorting the list of intervals based on their starting points. For example, given intervals [[1, 3], [2, 4], [5, 7]], sorting yields [[1, 3], [2, 4], [5, 7]].
- **I...
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