Solution

Method 1 – Two Pointers or Brute Force

Intuition

The answer is the maximum distance between the first house and the last house with a different color, or the last house and the first house with a different color.

Approach

For i = 0, find the furthest j where colors[j] != colors[0].
For i = n-1, find the furthest j where colors[j] != colors[n-1].
Return the maximum of these two distances.

Code

[{"language":"Java","code":"class Solution {\n    public int maxDistance(int[] colors) {\n        int n = colors.length;\n        int ans = 0;\n        for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) {\n            if (colors[i] != colors[0]) ans = Math.max(ans, i);\n            if (colors[i] != colors[n-1]) ans = Math.max(ans, n-1-i);\n        }\n        return ans;\n    }\n}","lang":"java","html":"<pre class=\"shiki shiki-themes github-light github-dark\" style=\"background-color:#fff;--shiki-dark-bg:#24292e;color:#24292e;--shiki-dark:#e1e4e8\" tabindex=\"0\"><code><span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">class</span><span style=\"color:#6F42C1;--shiki-dark:#B392F0\"> Solution</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\"> {</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">    public</span><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\"> int</span><span style=\"color:#6F42C1;--shiki-dark:#B392F0\"> maxDistance</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\">(</span><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">int</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\">[] </span><span style=\"color:#E36209;--shiki-dark:#FFAB70\">colors</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\">) {</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">        int</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\"> n </span><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">=</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\"> colors.length;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">        int</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\"> ans </span><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">=</span><span style=\"color:#005CC5;--shiki-dark:#79B8FF\"> 0</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\">;</span></span>\n<span class=\"line\"><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">        for</span><span style=\"color:#24292E;--shiki-dark:#E1E4E8\"> (</span><span style=\"color:#D73A49;--shiki-dark:#F97583\">int</span><span style=\"co

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