Container with Most Water

Given n non-negative integers $a_1, a_2, ..., a_n$ where each represents a point at coordinate $(i, a_i)$ . ‘ n ‘ vertical lines are drawn such that the two endpoints of line i is at $(i, a_i)$ and $(i, 0)$ .
Find two lines, which together with x-axis forms a container, such that the container contains the most water.

The program should return an integer which corresponds to the maximum area of water that can be contained (maximum area instead of maximum volume sounds weird but this is the 2D plane we are working with for simplicity).

Note: You may not slant the container.

Examples :

Input: array = [1, 5, 4, 3]
Output: 6
Explanation : 
5 and 3 are distance 2 apart. 
So the size of the base = 2. 
Height of container = min(5, 3) = 3. 
So total area = 3 * 2 = 6

Input: array = [3, 1, 2, 4, 5]
Output: 12
Explanation : 
5 and 3 are distance 4 apart. 
So the size of the base = 4. 
Height of container = min(5, 3) = 3. 
So total area = 4 * 3 = 12

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

Naive Solution:

Approach: The idea is quite simple and involves checking every pair of boundaries or array element and find out the maximum area under any pair of boundaries.
Algorithm:
1. Create a nested loop, the outer loop traverses the array from 0 to end (index of this loop is i).
2. The inner loop traverses the array from i + 1 to end (index of this loop is j).
3. Find the water that can be contained in the container with height of boundaries as array[i] and array[j], i.e area = (j – i)* min(array[i],array[j]), if this area is greater than current maximum, update the current maximum
4. Print the current maximum.

Implementation:

// C++ code for Max  
// Water Container 
#include<iostream> 
using namespace std; 
  
int maxArea(int A[], int len) 
{ 
    int area = 0; 
   for(int i = 0; i < len; i++)  
   { 
        for(int j = i + 1; j < len; j++) 
        { 
           // Calculating the max area 
           area = max(area, min(A[j], 
                        A[i]) * (j - i)); 
                          
         }   
    } 
    return area; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
int main() 
{ 
    int a[] = {1, 5, 4, 3}; 
    int b[] = {3, 1, 2, 4, 5}; 
      
    int len1 = sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]); 
    cout << maxArea(a, len1); 
      
    int len2 = sizeof(b) / sizeof(b[0]); 
    cout << endl << maxArea(b, len2); 
} 

Output:

6
12

Complexity Analysis:
- Time Compelxity: O(n^2).
  As nested traversal of the array is required, so time complexity is O(n^2)
- Space Complexity: O(1).
  As no extra space is required, so space complexity is constant.

Efficient Solution:

Approach: Given an array of heights of lines of boundaries of the container, find the maximum water that can be stored in a container. So start with the first and last element and check the amount of water that can be contained and store that container. Now the question arises is there any better boundaries or lines that can contain maximum water. So there is a clever way to find that. Initially, there are two indices the first and last index pointing to the first and the last element (which acts as boundaries of the container), if the value first index is less than the last index increase the first index else decrease the last index. As the increase in width is constant, by following the above process the optimal answer can be reached.
The GIF below explains the approach.
Algorithm:
1. Keep two index, first = 0 and last = n-1 and a value max_area that stores the maximum area.
2. Run a loop until first is less than the last.
3. Update the max_area with maximum of max_area and min(array[first] , array[last])*(last-first)
4. if the value at array[first] is greater tha array[last] then update last as last – 1 else update first as first + 1
5. Print the maximum area.

Implementation:

C++

// C++ code for Max  
// Water Container 
#include<iostream> 
using namespace std; 
  
int maxArea(int A[], int len) 
{ 
    int l = 0; 
    int r = len -1; 
    int area = 0; 
      
    while (l < r) 
    { 
        // Calculating the max area 
        area = max(area, min(A[l], 
                        A[r]) * (r - l)); 
                          
            if (A[l] < A[r]) 
                l += 1; 
                  
            else
                r -= 1; 
    } 
    return area; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
int main() 
{ 
    int a[] = {1, 5, 4, 3}; 
    int b[] = {3, 1, 2, 4, 5}; 
      
    int len1 = sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]); 
    cout << maxArea(a, len1); 
      
    int len2 = sizeof(b) / sizeof(b[0]); 
    cout << endl << maxArea(b, len2); 
} 
  
// This code is contributed by Smitha Dinesh Semwal 

Java

// Java code for Max  
// Water Container 
import java.util.*; 
  
class Area{ 
  
    public static int maxArea(int A[], int len) 
    { 
        int l = 0; 
        int r = len -1; 
        int area = 0; 
      
        while (l < r) 
        { 
            // Calculating the max area 
            area = Math.max(area,  
                        Math.min(A[l], A[r]) * (r - l)); 
                          
            if (A[l] < A[r]) 
                l += 1; 
                  
            else
                r -= 1; 
        } 
        return area; 
    } 
      
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        int a[] = {1, 5, 4, 3}; 
        int b[] = {3, 1, 2, 4, 5}; 
      
        int len1 = 4; 
        System.out.print( maxArea(a, len1)+"\n" ); 
      
        int len2 = 5; 
        System.out.print( maxArea(b, len2) ); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code is contributed by rishabh_jain 

Python

# Python code for Max  
# Water Container 
def maxArea( A): 
    l = 0
    r = len(A) -1
    area = 0
      
    while l < r: 
        # Calculating the max area 
        area = max(area, min(A[l],  
                        A[r]) * (r - l)) 
      
        if A[l] < A[r]: 
            l += 1
        else: 
            r -= 1
    return area 
  
# Driver code 
a = [1, 5, 4, 3] 
b = [3, 1, 2, 4, 5] 
  
print(maxArea(a)) 
print(maxArea(b)) 

C#

// C# code for Max  
// Water Container 
using System; 
  
class Area{ 
  
    public static int maxArea(int []A, int len) 
    { 
        int l = 0; 
        int r = len -1; 
        int area = 0; 
      
        while (l < r) 
        { 
            // Calculating the max area 
            area = Math.Max(area,  
                        Math.Min(A[l], A[r]) * (r - l)); 
                          
            if (A[l] < A[r]) 
                l += 1; 
                  
            else
                r -= 1; 
        } 
        return area; 
    } 
      
    // Driver code 
    public static void Main() 
    { 
        int []a = {1, 5, 4, 3}; 
        int []b = {3, 1, 2, 4, 5}; 
      
        int len1 = 4; 
        Console.WriteLine( maxArea(a, len1)); 
      
        int len2 = 5; 
        Console.WriteLine( maxArea(b, len2) ); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code is contributed by Vt_M 

PHP

<?php 
// PHP code for Max  
// Water Container 
function maxArea($A, $len) 
{ 
    $l = 0; 
    $r = $len -1; 
    $area = 0; 
      
    while ($l < $r) 
    { 
        // Calculating the max area 
        $area = max($area, min($A[$l], 
                    $A[$r]) * ($r - $l)); 
                          
            if ($A[$l] < $A[$r]) 
                $l += 1; 
                  
            else
                $r -= 1; 
    } 
    return $area; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
$a = array(1, 5, 4, 3); 
$b = array(3, 1, 2, 4, 5); 
  
$len1 = sizeof($a) / sizeof($a[0]); 
echo maxArea($a, $len1). "\n"; 
  
$len2 = sizeof($b) / sizeof($b[0]); 
echo maxArea($b, $len2); 
      
// This code is contributed by mits 
?> 

Output:

6
12

Complexity Analysis:
- Time Compelxity: O(n).
  As only one traversal of the array is required, so time complexity is O(n).
- Space Complexity: O(1).
  No extra space is required, so space complexity is constant.

My Personal Notes

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

C++

Java

Python

C#

PHP

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