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mediumDSA

How do you solve the container with most water problem?

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01

Understand the problem

Explain max-area two-pointer.

arraystwo-pointers
02

Attempt it yourself

Sketch your approach before reading the solution — that's what interviews test.

Nudge consolestandby

Stuck? Beam a request up — the console returns a conceptual nudge that guides your logic without spoiling the implementation.

03

Study the solution

Place pointers at both ends; the area is min(height[l], height[r]) * (r - l). Always move the shorter wall inward, since keeping it can never increase the area. This greedy two-pointer sweep is O(n) versus the O(n²) brute force.

Solution ready — 2 min read

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04

Read the code

Greedy two pointers
Run Playground
def max_area(height):
    left, right = 0, len(height) - 1
    best = 0
    while left < right:
        best = max(best, min(height[left], height[right]) * (right - left))
        if height[left] < height[right]:
            left += 1
        else:
            right -= 1
    return best


# --- demo ---
print(max_area([1, 8, 6, 2, 5, 4, 8, 3, 7]))   # 49
05

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Transmission complete // awaiting log

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