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Phone Screen

Questions:

1. Basic Calculator II

   • Implemented a non-stack solution.
   • Note: The interviewer wasn't initially familiar with my approach, but understood better when I broke down the problem further.

2. Valid Word Abbreviation

   • Implemented a two-pointer solution.

Follow-up Question (no coding required): Check if an Original String Exists Given Two Encoded Strings

My explanation for the follow-up: "I would approach this using a combination of backtracking and dynamic programming. The solution would:

• Recursively explore all possible interpretations of the strings
• Handle digits and letters separately
• Track the length difference between processed parts of the strings
• Use backtracking to try different possibilities
• Employ dynamic programming (memoization) to avoid redundant calculations. This method efficiently handles various interpretations of numbers as letter sequences, determining if the two strings can be made equal."

Outcome: Successfully advanced to the onsite interview round.