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The difficulty comes from correctly handling multiple operators, precedence rules, and nested parentheses in a single pass. Implementing a clean parser with correct order of operations can be tricky without a structured approach.
Yes, variations of expression evaluation problems like Basic Calculator III are common in FAANG-style interviews. They test parsing logic, stack usage, and understanding of operator precedence.
A stack is the most suitable data structure because it helps manage intermediate results and operator precedence. It also works well with recursive parsing when handling nested parentheses.
The optimal approach uses a stack combined with recursion to evaluate expressions while respecting operator precedence and parentheses. Multiplication and division are processed immediately, while addition and subtraction are stored in the stack and summed later.