Find the Earliest Pair with a Target Sum
Last updated: August 19, 2026
Quick Overview
The question asks the candidate to find the earliest pair of numbers in an array that adds up to a specified target sum.
Amazon
August 19, 2026185
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1,838 solved
The question asks the candidate to find the earliest pair of numbers in an array that adds up to a specified target sum.
This question is typically asked during a technical screen to assess a candidate's problem-solving and coding skills. The interviewer is evaluating the candidate's ability to understand the problem, implement an efficient solution, and articulate their thought process clearly. It also tests the candidate's familiarity with common algorithms and data structures, particularly in the context of array manipulation.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Clearly define the problem and constraints.
- Outline an efficient algorithm to find the target sum pair.
- Discuss the time and space complexity of the solution.
- Provide a correct implementation in Python.
- Handle edge cases and explain the reasoning.
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 modify your solution if the array is sorted?
- What would you do if there are multiple pairs that meet the target sum?
- Can you explain how you would optimize your solution further?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Requirements
We need to find the earliest pair of integers in an array that sums up to a given target. The output should be the indices of these two integers. If no such pair exists, we should return an indication...
High-Level Design
To solve this problem efficiently, we can use a hash map (dictionary in Python) to store the numbers we have seen so far and their corresponding indices. As we iterate through the array, we can check ...
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