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The Two Pointers Pattern: Turning O(N ) into O(N)

The Two Pointers Pattern

The Two Pointers technique is one of the most fundamental algorithmic patterns in technical coding interviews.

⚡ The Monotonic Invariant

In a sorted array, arr[i] <= arr[j] for all i < j. By comparing opposite ends, we prune an entire search space with every pointer step.

Total operations: N steps → O(N) time, O(1) auxiliary space.

Watch the interactive step-by-step visualizer with live variables on AlgoDose.

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