# 1964. Find the Longest Valid Obstacle Course at Each Position ###### tags: `leetcode` ## Description You want to build some obstacle courses. You are given a 0-indexed integer array obstacles of length n, where obstacles[i] describes the height of the ith obstacle. For every index i between 0 and n - 1 (inclusive), find the length of the longest obstacle course in obstacles such that: You choose any number of obstacles between 0 and i inclusive. You must include the ith obstacle in the course. You must put the chosen obstacles in the same order as they appear in obstacles. Every obstacle (except the first) is taller than or the same height as the obstacle immediately before it. Return an array ans of length n, where ans[i] is the length of the longest obstacle course for index i as described above. - Example 1: >Input: obstacles = [1,2,3,2] Output: [1,2,3,3] >>Explanation: The longest valid obstacle course at each position is: - i = 0: [1], [1] has length 1. - i = 1: [1,2], [1,2] has length 2. - i = 2: [1,2,3], [1,2,3] has length 3. - i = 3: [1,2,3,2], [1,2,2] has length 3. - Example 2: >Input: obstacles = [2,2,1] Output: [1,2,1] >>Explanation: The longest valid obstacle course at each position is: - i = 0: [2], [2] has length 1. - i = 1: [2,2], [2,2] has length 2. - i = 2: [2,2,1], [1] has length 1. - Example 3: >Input: obstacles = [3,1,5,6,4,2] Output: [1,1,2,3,2,2] >>Explanation: The longest valid obstacle course at each position is: - i = 0: [3], [3] has length 1. - i = 1: [3,1], [1] has length 1. - i = 2: [3,1,5], [3,5] has length 2. [1,5] is also valid. - i = 3: [3,1,5,6], [3,5,6] has length 3. [1,5,6] is also valid. - i = 4: [3,1,5,6,4], [3,4] has length 2. [1,4] is also valid. - i = 5: [3,1,5,6,4,2], [1,2] has length 2. - Constraints: >n == obstacles.length 1 <= n <= 105 1 <= obstacles[i] <= 107 ## Solution - The problem can be done by dynamic programming, keeping record for the smaller sequence in order - We need to remember all the record for the existent sub-result in increasing order. And the sequence for each new one should be searched by binary search ```cpp= l = 0, r = s; while (r - l > 0) { m = (l + r) / 2; if (increase[m] <= obstacles[i]) l = m + 1; else r = m; } ``` - After finding out the biggest one that is smaller than the value. Add it into the answer with the index plus itself ```cpp= ans[i] = l + 1; ``` - The value for the increasing array should be updated as well. The left index of the increasing array should be the current value ```cpp= increase[l] = obstacles[i]; ``` - We also need to plus one if the left value that is iterated is the rightmost value ```cpp= if (s == l) s++; ```