Find minimum cost in grid
Last updated: May 12, 2026
Quick Overview
Given a grid of non-negative integers representing costs, find the minimum cost to travel from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner, moving only down or right at each step. The output should be a single integer representing the minimum cost path.
Anduril
May 12, 202627
5
3,133 solved
Given a grid of non-negative integers representing costs, find the minimum cost to travel from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner, moving only down or right at each step. The output should be a single integer representing the minimum cost path.
Coding interviews at Anduril focus on problem-solving approach as much as the final solution. The interviewer wants to see you break down the problem, consider edge cases, and optimize iteratively. Communication throughout the process is key.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Recognize the underlying problem pattern (sliding window, two pointers, BFS/DFS, etc.)
- Discuss multiple approaches and trade-offs before coding
- Implement an optimal solution with clean, production-quality code
- Handle all edge cases including boundary conditions and invalid input
- Optimize both time and space complexity with clear justification
- Test your solution systematically with well-chosen examples
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 parallelize this solution?
- How would you modify your solution to handle streaming input?
- How would you test this solution thoroughly?
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Problem Analysis
The problem requires us to find the minimum cost path from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner of a grid, where each cell in the grid represents a cost to traverse. The only allowed moves a...
Approach
We will create a 2D array dp where dp[i][j] represents the minimum cost to reach cell (i, j) from the top-left corner. Here’s the step-by-step algorithm:
- Initialization: Set
dp[0][0]t...
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