Max Area of Island
Detailed guide and Python implementation for the 'Max Area of Island' problem.
1. Concept Overview
The 'Max Area of Island' problem is a key challenge in the Graphs section.
This implementation focuses on easy-level logic in Python.
We prioritize technical accuracy and code readability in our provided solutions.
2. Real-World Applications
3. Visual Intuition
Visualizing the logic flow for Max Area of Island.
4. Prerequisites
5. Step-by-Step Thinking
1. Understand the problem
Read the problem statement for Max Area of Island carefully.
2. Formulate brute force
Draft a simple iterative solution.
3. Identify inefficiency
Look for redundant calculations.
4. Optimize search path
Use hashing or sorting to speed up the process.
5. Final Implementation
Clean up the code for production standards.
Problem Statement
You are given an m x n binary matrix grid. An island is a group of 1s (representing land) connected 4-directionally (horizontal or vertical). You may assume all four edges of the grid are surrounded by water.
The area of an island is the number of cells with a value 1 in the island.
Return the maximum area of an island in grid. If there is no island, return 0.
Write a function maxAreaOfIsland(grid: List[List[int]]) -> int.
- •m == len(grid)
- •n == len(grid[i])
- •1 <= m, n <= 50
- •grid[i][j] is 0 or 1
Examples
grid = [[0,0,1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0],[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0],[0,1,1,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],[0,1,0,0,1,1,0,0,1,0,1,0,0],[0,1,0,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,0,0],[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0],[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0],[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0]]
6
The maximum area of an island is 6, located in the lower-right part of the grid.
grid = [[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]]
0
There are no islands in the grid, so the max area is 0.
Need a Hint?
Edge Cases to Watch
- Empty input structures
- Single element inputs
- Large numerical bounds
Ready to Solve?
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Interview Insights & Variations
Complexity Analysis Breakdown
Why Time: Directly evaluates all possibilities.
Why Space: Uses standard local memory.
Why Time: Optimized paths reduce total operations.
Why Space: May trade memory for speed.
Optimized Solution Python Code
Optimized Solution Python Code
def max_area_of_island_opt(grid: list[list[int]]) -> int:
rows, cols = len(grid), len(grid[0])
def dfs(r, c):
if r < 0 or r == rows or c < 0 or c == cols or grid[r][c] == 0:
return 0
grid[r][c] = 0
return 1 + dfs(r + 1, c) + dfs(r - 1, c) + dfs(r, c + 1) + dfs(r, c - 1)
area = 0
for r in range(rows):
for c in range(cols):
if grid[r][c] == 1:
area = max(area, dfs(r, c))
return areaBrute Force Code (Spoiler Guarded)
Brute Force Code (Spoiler Guarded)
def max_area_of_island_brute(grid: list[list[int]]) -> int:
rows, cols = len(grid), len(grid[0])
visited = set()
def bfs(r, c):
q = [(r, c)]
visited.add((r, c))
area = 0
while q:
row, col = q.pop(0)
area += 1
for dr, dc in [[1,0],[-1,0],[0,1],[0,-1]]:
nr, nc = row + dr, col + dc
if 0 <= nr < rows and 0 <= nc < cols and grid[nr][nc] == 1 and (nr, nc) not in visited:
visited.add((nr, nc))
q.append((nr, nc))
return area
max_area = 0
for r in range(rows):
for c in range(cols):
if grid[r][c] == 1 and (r, c) not in visited:
max_area = max(max_area, bfs(r, c))
return max_areaAlgorithm Pattern Checklist
When dealing with Graphs data patterns.
Core Prerequisites
Revision Key Notes
Common Mistakes & Pitfalls
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