I just took a trainee this morning who just finished a MathWorks 's two programming questions took only 15 minutes to AC out of the latest OA, and the overall difficulty was medium to low, favoring basic logic and simulation implementation. Below is a compilation of the questions and thoughts, for students who have not yet done it.
Q1: Valid Parentheses String
Problem.
You are given several strings containing only parentheses characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[', ']'.
For each string, determine if it is valid - meaning all brackets are closed and ordered correctly.
Solution Idea.
Use a stack to simulate the matching process.
- Traverse each character.
- If it's an opening bracket, push it to the stack.
- If it's a closing bracket, check whether it matches the top element of the stack.
- If it matches, pop; otherwise, return invalid immediately.
At the end, if the stack is empty, the string is valid.
This is basically the LeetCode "Valid Parentheses" template question - super straightforward, perfect warm- up. up.
Q2: Maximum Overlapping Team Size
Problem.
You are given n time intervals representing the working hours of different teams.
Find the maximum number of teams that are active (overlapping) at the same time.
Solution Idea.
Classic interval overlap problem - similar to "Meeting Rooms II."
- Extract all start and end points.
- Mark starts as
+1, ends as-1. - Sort all points by time, and accumulate the counts.
- Keep track of the maximum cumulative value - that's the maximum overlapping team size.
It can also be done via prefix counting or sweep line method; both are efficient since the input size is small.
OA Overall Review
This time, both OA questions were very routine, and the difficulty was on par with LeetCode Easy ~ Medium.
The interface of the system is simple, there is no pit in the input and output, and the time is enough for 60 minutes. Because the students have practiced "logic+realization" simulation a few times before, the whole process is almost in autopilot mode, and the whole process is very stable.
There are no algorithmic traps in MathWorks' OA, the test is really about coding feel and basic question proficiency, and the rhythm and sense of communication are more important than skills.
FAQ: MathWorks OA Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: On what platform is OA done?
Official own platform, the interface is refreshing and stable, no need to install additional plug-ins.
Q2: Is there any filming or surveillance?
There is no camera monitoring, but the whole thing is recorded to detect the environment, and cutting the screen is not recommended.
Q3: Title style?
Favor basic algorithms and logic questions, the code requires simplicity and clarity, and does not test strange techniques.
Q4: Difficulty compared to other companies?
Obviously easier than financial OA (Citadel, IMC), but also simpler than Amazon OA, belongs to the "pure coding implementation" type of testing.
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