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Author sounds pretty darn smart. But, hey, he/she couldn't come up with the correct solution in the allotted time, under pressure, with a marker in his hand - must not be good enough. Hope the candidate they took on meets all of their expectations.

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He needed a help from a friend to get this right. I'd argue that at the time of the interview he wasn't ready. I'd also argue that the basic linear solution for this problem is straightforward, doesn't require any clever tricks, and a qualified candidate would have no problem solving it.

I assure you that the author is indeed smart (at least he thinks he is), but is unskilled in the ways of complexity analysis. This was his means of making himself better, by seeing what other people made of what his attempts were. Regrettably, he still has a lot more to learn it seems.

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