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Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns in C++

Solution: Search in Rotated Sorted Array

Explore how to apply a modified binary search technique to locate a target value within a rotated sorted array. Understand dividing the array into sorted and unsorted halves, and how to adjust search boundaries efficiently. This lesson teaches you to optimize search performance using iterative and recursive approaches with clear time and space complexity benefits.

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Statement

You are given a sorted integer array, nums, and an integer, target. The array may have been rotated by an arbitrary number. Your task is to find and return the index of target in this array. If target does not exist, return -1.

An original sorted array before rotation is given below:

g array 1 10 20 47 59 63 75 88 99 107 120 133 155 162 176 188 199 200 210 222

After rotating this array 6 times, it changes to:

g array 176 188 199 200 210 222 1 10 20 47 59 63 75 88 99 107 120 133 155 162

Constraints:

  • All values in nums are unique.
  • The values in nums are sorted in ascending order.
  • The array may have been rotated by some arbitrary number.
  • 1≤1 \leq nums.length ≤1000\leq 1000
  • −104≤-10^4 \leq nums[i] ≤104\leq 10^4
  • −104≤-10^4 \leq
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