Find missed number in an Array List (Java). Best interview solution - Boris
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Easily solution to find a missed number in an array list in Java.

Boris~November 6, 2020 /Uncategorized

How to find a missed number in an array list in Java? One of the most frequently asked questions on the technical interview. There are several moments you should keep in mind. First of all, with the formula (n) * (n + 1) / 2, we will find the sum of all natural numbers. After that, we should subtract each element of the array from the sum. As a result, we would get the element that has been missed.

How to find the missed element in an Array List (Java)? Step-by-step implementation.

If you need a simple solution for this task, you have to follow the detailed instructions below:

find missed number in array
//Getting the size of the array to use it in the formula
        int size = array.length;

//Sum of natural numbers calculated by formula n*(n+1)/2
//Since we use array and one item is missed we need to add 1 in both cases
        int result = (size + 1) * (size + 2) / 2;
find missed number in array
//From total number with each iteration we minus each item of the array list
        for (int i : array) {
            result -= i;
        }

All steps schema:

find missed number in array
find missed number in array

Full code solution:

private void findMissedElement() {
//Creating new array of integers
        int[] array = new int[]{1,5,4,2,6};

//Getting the size of the array to use it in the formula
        int size = array.length;

//Sum of natural numbers calculated by formula n*(n+1)/2
//Since we use array and one item is missed we need to add 1 in both cases
        int result = (size + 1) * (size + 2) / 2;

//From total number with each iteration we minus each item of the array list
        for (int i : array) {
            result -= i;
        }

 //The rest number is the result
        Log.d("arrayList", "result-> " + result);
    }

In this article, I show you the solution for two sum problem (Java0.

Full code and more examples in my facebook group.

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