Leetcode Find the Duplicate Number Solution Java Solution

Find the duplicate number

Given an array nums containing n + 1 integers where each integer is between 1 and n (inclusive), prove that at least one duplicate number must exist. Assume that there is only one duplicate number, find the duplicate one.

Example 1:

Input: [1,3,4,2,2]
Output: 2

Example 2:

Input: [3,1,3,4,2]
Output: 3

Note:

  1. You must not modify the array (assume the array is read only).
  2. You must use only constant, O(1) extra space.
  3. Your runtime complexity should be less than O(n2).
  4. There is only one duplicate number in the array, but it could be repeated more than once.

Solution: We will solve this using Two pointers the brute force solution would be looping twice to find the duplicate which will take O(n2).

class HackerHeap {
    public int findDuplicate(int[] nums) {
        int slow = 0;
        int fast = 0;  
        do{
            slow = nums[slow];
            fast = nums[nums[fast]];
        }while(slow!=fast);
        
        int find =0;
        
        while(find!=slow){
            find = nums[find];
            slow = nums[slow];
        }  
        return find;
    }
}