Breaking News: Grepper is joining You.com. Read the official announcement!

starting point of loop linked list proof

Vast Vole answered on December 4, 2021 Popularity 6/10 Helpfulness 1/10

answer starting point of loop linked list proof

starting point of loop linked list proof

Comment

m => length from starting of list to starting of loop (i.e 1-2-3-4)
l => length of loop (i.e. 4-5-6-7-8-9)
k => length between starting of loop to meeting point (i.e. 4-5-6-7)

Total distance traveled by slowPtr = m + p(l) +k
where p => number of repetition of circle covered by slowPtr

Total distance traveled by fastPtr = m + q(l) + k
where q => number of repetition of circle covered by fastPtr

Since,
fastPtr running twice faster than slowPtr

Hence,
Total distance traveled by fastPtr = 2 X Total distance traveled by slowPtr
i.e
m + q(l) + k = 2 * ( m + p(l) +k )
or, m + k = q(l) - p(l)
or, m + k = (q-p) l
or, m = (q-p) l - k

So,
If slowPtr starts from beginning of list and travels "m" length then, it will reach to Point 4 (i.e. 1-2-3-4)

and
fastPtr start from Point 7 and travels " (q-p) l - k " length then, it will reach to Point 4 (i.e. 7-8-9-4),
because "(q-p) l" is a complete circle length with " (q-p) " times.

Popularity 6/10 Helpfulness 1/10 Language python

Source: stackoverflow.com

Tags: linked-list point proof python

Link to this answer
Share Copy Link

Contributed on Dec 04 2021

Vast Vole

0 Answers Avg Quality 2/10

starting point of loop linked list proof

Contents

More Related Answers

starting point of loop linked list proof

Grepper

Documentation

Social

Legal

Contact

Oops, You will need to install Grepper and log-in to perform this action.