Validate grid balanced
Last updated: April 29, 2026
Quick Overview
Given a 2D grid of integers, write a function to determine if the grid is balanced. A grid is considered balanced if the sum of the elements in each row is equal to the sum of the elements in each column. The function should return a boolean value: true if the grid is balanced, and false otherwise.
Rippling
April 29, 202635
6
1,004 solved
Given a 2D grid of integers, write a function to determine if the grid is balanced. A grid is considered balanced if the sum of the elements in each row is equal to the sum of the elements in each column. The function should return a boolean value: true if the grid is balanced, and false otherwise.
Rippling uses this problem in the Take-home Project to evaluate your algorithmic thinking. They expect you to discuss multiple approaches, analyze trade-offs between them, and implement the optimal solution with clean, readable code.
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 your solution change if the input was sorted?
- What happens if the input contains duplicates?
- What is the worst-case input for your solution?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Problem Analysis
To determine if a grid is balanced, we need to check if the sum of each row equals the sum of each column. This problem can be approached using a straightforward calculation of sums for both rows and ...
Approach
- Initialize two lists:
row_sumsandcol_sums, both sized according to the number of rows and columns in the grid. - Iterate through each element in the grid with nested loops: the outer loop fo...