Samsung R&D | Online Assessment | Flow of Numbers
Question Details
Flow of Numbers You want to create a sequence {a[0] a[1], ... a[N-2], a[N-1]} whose length is N. The sequence must meet the following conditions: 1) a[0] should always be 0. 2) a[i],...
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Flow of Numbers
You want to create a sequence {a[0] a[1], ... a[N-2], a[N-1]} whose length is N. The sequence must meet the following conditions:
1) a[0] should always be 0.
2) a[i], the ith number should always be 0 or a positive integer
3) the absolute value of the difference between ith and i+1 th number should be equal to or smaller than 1. In other words, every i satisfies the condition:
\t|a[i] - a[i+1]| <= 1.
\tThere can be a limited value in the sequence. A limited value is given as (x,y). x means the place of a number & y means the maximum of a number. Given (2,5), the max value of a[2] can be 5. There may be M limited values and the following requirement is added:
4) Given a limited value of (x,y) the xth number cannot exceed y (a[x] <= y)
GIven the length of a sequence N, and M limited values, you need to find the way that maximizes the largest value when creating a sequence satisfying the a forementioned conditions. Then you are required to print the max value. There maybe multiple sequences that have a max value.
Example:
N = 10, M = 2
{(2,1) , (7,1)}
Output: 3
Explaination: The following sequence can be created using the given conditions
{0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3}. And the max value here is 3.
N = 10, M = 5
{(1,3) (2,9) (4, 6) (7, 4) (9, 5)}
Output: 5
N = 10, M = 1
{(3, 1)}
Output: 7
Explaination: {0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}
About This Question
This is a reported interview question from a samsung interview for a swe role during the oa round reported in 2025.
It covers the following topics: General Experience .
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About Samsung Interview Reports
This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at Samsung. LeakCode aggregates interview reports from 10+ sources, including 1Point3Acres, Glassdoor, LeetCode Discuss, Blind, Reddit, Indeed, and Nowcoder. Each report is translated where necessary, deduplicated against existing entries, and tagged by company, role, round type, and reporting date.
Use this question as one calibration data point, not a memorization target. Companies typically rotate their question pools every 2-4 months; the exact wording of a 2024 question may differ from what you encounter today. The underlying pattern, difficulty level, and follow-up depth at Samsung are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the Samsung interview process typically includes a recruiter screen, one or two technical phone screens, and a 4-5 round on-site loop covering coding, system design (at L4+ levels), and behavioral. Reports tagged on LeakCode show the round-by-round distribution and typical difficulty calibration. To browse questions filtered by round type and seniority, use the company hub linked above.
How To Practice This Type of Question
Solve similar problems on LeetCode under timed conditions (25-35 minutes per medium difficulty). The goal is pattern recognition: recognize the underlying technique (sliding window, two-pointer, BFS, memoized recursion, etc.) within 60-90 seconds of reading. Strong candidates verbalize their hypothesis out loud before coding, then iterate based on feedback. Weak candidates dive into implementation immediately, lose time on the wrong approach, and run out of time for follow-ups.
Companies update their question pools every 2-4 months. The exact wording of any given question may have been retired by the time you interview. Focus your prep on the pattern, not the specific problem. The patterns that appear in Samsung reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your Samsung Round
Apply the standard interview round template: clarify requirements (2-3 minutes), state your approach out loud and confirm direction with the interviewer (3-5 minutes), code with narration (15-25 minutes), test with concrete examples including edge cases (5 minutes), discuss optimization or trade-offs if time permits (5 minutes). This template is universally accepted across FAANG and adjacent companies; deviating from it produces weaker interviewer feedback signal.
The single most predictive failure mode in Samsung reports tagged "no hire": not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers are explicitly trained to weight this. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's written notes.