Is Node With Highest Edge Score easy or hard?

Node With Highest Edge Score is classified as a Medium problem. The core idea is simple accumulation, but recognizing that you can compute all scores in one linear pass instead of repeatedly scanning the array is the key insight.

Node With Highest Edge Score Python/Java solution

In Python or Java, iterate through the edges array and update a score array or hash map by adding the index to the destination node’s score. After accumulation, scan for the node with the maximum score while ensuring the smallest index is returned on ties.

How to solve Node With Highest Edge Score in O(n)?

Create a score array of size n initialized to zero. Loop through the edges array and add the index i to score[edges[i]]. Once all scores are accumulated, iterate through the score array to find the node with the highest value, breaking ties by choosing the smaller index.

What is the best approach for Node With Highest Edge Score?

The best approach uses an array to accumulate scores in one pass. Iterate through the edges array and add the index i to score[edges[i]]. After building the score array, scan it once to find the maximum score while keeping the smallest index on ties. This runs in O(n) time with O(n) space.

Is Node With Highest Edge Score asked at Google/Amazon/Meta?

This problem reflects common interview patterns around graph representation and hash-based aggregation. Variants of edge accumulation and counting using arrays or hash maps frequently appear in interviews at companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta.

What data structure is used in Node With Highest Edge Score?

The primary data structure is an array used to accumulate edge scores for each node. A hash map can also be used to store scores dynamically if node identifiers are sparse or not limited to a fixed range.

What is the time complexity of Node With Highest Edge Score?

The optimal solution runs in O(n) time because each edge is processed exactly once and the score array is scanned once more to find the maximum. Space complexity is O(n) for storing the accumulated scores.

2374. Node With Highest Edge Score - Practice Online

You are given a directed graph with n nodes labeled from 0 to n - 1, where each node has exactly one outgoing edge.

The graph is represented by a given 0-indexed integer array edges of length n, where edges[i] indicates that there is a directed edge from node i to node edges[i].

The edge score of a node i is defined as the sum of the labels of all the nodes that have an edge pointing to i.

Return the node with the highest edge score. If multiple nodes have the same edge score, return the node with the smallest index.

Example 1:

Input: edges = [1,0,0,0,0,7,7,5]
Output: 7
Explanation:
- The nodes 1, 2, 3 and 4 have an edge pointing to node 0. The edge score of node 0 is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.
- The node 0 has an edge pointing to node 1. The edge score of node 1 is 0.
- The node 7 has an edge pointing to node 5. The edge score of node 5 is 7.
- The nodes 5 and 6 have an edge pointing to node 7. The edge score of node 7 is 5 + 6 = 11.
Node 7 has the highest edge score so return 7.

Example 2:

Input: edges = [2,0,0,2]
Output: 0
Explanation:
- The nodes 1 and 2 have an edge pointing to node 0. The edge score of node 0 is 1 + 2 = 3.
- The nodes 0 and 3 have an edge pointing to node 2. The edge score of node 2 is 0 + 3 = 3.
Nodes 0 and 2 both have an edge score of 3. Since node 0 has a smaller index, we return 0.

Constraints:

n == edges.length
2 <= n <= 10⁵
0 <= edges[i] < n
edges[i] != i