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Subarrays Distinct Element Sum of Squares II

Number: 3139

Difficulty: Hard

Paid? No

Companies: Amazon


Problem Description

Given an integer array nums, consider every contiguous non‐empty subarray. For each subarray, define its “distinct count” as the number of distinct values that appear in it. Return the sum of the squares of these distinct counts over all subarrays, modulo 10⁹+7.

For example, for nums = [1,2,1] the six subarrays have distinct counts 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2 (so squares 1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 4) and the answer is 15.


Key Insights

  • The brute‐force approach is prohibitively expensive (O(n²)) due to up to 10⁵ elements.
  • Notice that for each subarray the squared “distinct count” can be written as: • (number of distinct elements)² = (∑ₓ I{x appears})² = ∑ₓ I{x appears} + ∑ₓ∑ᵧ, x≠y I{x appears and y appears}.
  • Thus the overall answer is separable into two parts: • S₁ = sum over all subarrays of (number of distinct elements) • S₂ = sum over all subarrays of (number of ordered pairs of distinct elements in that subarray)
  • S₁ is a classical problem – “sum of subarray distinct elements” – whose contribution can be computed by “contribution technique” (each occurrence “contributes” (i - prev[i])*(n - i) subarrays where it is the “first” counted occurrence).
  • For S₂, observe that • S₂ = (sum over subarrays of distinct²) − S₁, so if we can find S₁ and then “boost” to S₁₂ = ∑ (distinct count)² by a dynamic‐programming recurrence, we can get S₂.
  • The key is to “process” the array from left to right and update the contributions of subarrays ending at the current index. When adding a new element, those subarrays that do not contain it get an increment in distinct count (and hence their square increases by 2*old+1) while those that already contained it remain unchanged.
  • To efficiently “update” many subarrays at once (i.e. a range of starting indices) we can use a Fenwick tree (also known as Binary Indexed Tree) or Segment Tree. In short, we will maintain two DP arrays: • dp[i] = sum of distinct counts for all subarrays ending at index i. • sq[i] = sum of squares of distinct counts for all subarrays ending at index i.
  • When processing a new index i, let last = last occurrence of nums[i] (or –1 if not seen). Then for any subarray ending at i with starting index L: • If L > last then nums[i] is “new” for that subarray and the new distinct count becomes old+1 so that its square increases by 2*(old) + 1. • Otherwise the distinct count remains unchanged.
  • We can combine these “range‐updates” and “range‐queries” via BIT (or Segment Tree) so that the overall complexity is O(n log n).

Space and Time Complexity

Time Complexity: O(n log n) – we process each index and perform BIT updates/queries. Space Complexity: O(n) – for storing dp arrays and BIT data structures.


Solution

The idea is to process the array from left to right while “tracking” the effect of each new element on all subarrays ending at the current index. For each index i:

  1. Create the new subarray consisting only of nums[i] (its distinct count is 1, squared is 1).
  2. For every subarray ending at i–1 (which can start at any L from 0 to i–1), determine if adding nums[i] increases the distinct count. This happens precisely if the last occurrence of nums[i] is before the starting index L.
  3. Using a data structure (Fenwick tree), we can update the “tail” range (i.e. those starting indices for which the new element is “new”) by adding the increment (which affects the square via the formula: newSquare = oldSquare + 2*(old distinct) + 1).
  4. Combine the new subarray plus all extended subarrays to obtain dp[i] and sq[i].
  5. The answer is the sum over i of sq[i] modulo 10⁹+7.

It helps to keep an auxiliary structure that allows range‐queries on the dp (distinct counts) for subarrays ending at the previous index and to update a BIT for both dp and square contributions. The tricky part is handling the “overlap” correctly – when an element reappears, its contribution is “turned off” for subarrays that started before its last occurrence.

Below are code solutions in Python, JavaScript, C++, and Java. (In an interview one might discuss this high‐level plan and then implement one version; here we provide all four for reference.)


Code Solutions

# We implement a solution using two Fenwick trees (BITs) to maintain:
#   - bit_dp: to quickly get the sum of distinct counts for a range of subarray starts.
#   - bit_sq: to quickly get the sum of squared distinct counts.
# The idea is to maintain arrays dp and sq for subarrays ending at each index.
# We also maintain an array lastOccurrence to know the last index of each element.
# Note: This is a non‐trivial implementation; the BIT supports range updates and point queries.
MOD = 10**9 + 7

class Fenw:
    # Fenwick tree for point query and point update.
    def __init__(self, n):
        self.n = n
        self.a = [0]*(n+1)
    def update(self, i, delta):
        i += 1
        while i <= self.n:
            self.a[i] = (self.a[i] + delta) % MOD
            i += i & -i
    def query(self, i):
        # returns prefix sum [0..i]
        i += 1
        s = 0
        while i:
            s = (s + self.a[i]) % MOD
            i -= i & -i
        return s

def solve(nums):
    n = len(nums)
    # For each subarray ending at i, we store:
    # dp[i] = sum distinct counts, sq[i] = sum of squares of distinct counts
    dp = [0]*n 
    sq = [0]*n
    # BITs for range queries on previous dp values; size n (for subarray start indices)
    # We simulate “range updates” on an auxiliary structure where each subarray start is represented.
    # For simplicity, we use arrays since each new index i has exactly i subarrays ending at i-1.
    # Instead, we maintain cumulative arrays for the current window of subarray starts.
    # We also keep lastOccurrence dictionary.
    lastOccurrence = {}
    # For index 0, only subarray [0]
    dp[0] = 1
    sq[0] = 1
    lastOccurrence[nums[0]] = 0
    # We maintain two arrays representing contributions from subarrays ending at previous index.
    # For index i, we store an array "window" of length i representing distinct counts for subarrays starting at indices 0...i-1.
    # To achieve efficient range queries and updates we use Fenw trees.
    # Here, we simulate these BITs over an array of length n.
    bit_dp = Fenw(n)
    bit_sq = Fenw(n)
    # For i=0, there is one subarray at start index 0 with distinct count 1 and square 1.
    bit_dp.update(0, 1)
    bit_sq.update(0, 1)
    
    ans = sq[0]
    
    # cur_count: total number of subarrays ending at previous index = i.
    cur_count = 1   # for i=0 it is 1.
    
    # For each new index i, we will extend all subarrays ending at i-1 and then add the new subarray starting at i.
    for i in range(1, n):
        # Get the last occurrence of current element
        last = lastOccurrence.get(nums[i], -1)
        # Number of subarrays ending at i-1 is cur_count = i.
        # For subarrays that start at L where L > last, nums[i] is a new element.
        # Count how many such subarrays: they are those with starting index in [last+1, i-1].
        count_incr = (i - 1) - (last + 1) + 1 if last < i else 0
        if count_incr < 0: 
            count_incr = 0
        # Sum of old distinct counts for subarrays starting in that region:
        sum_dp = 0
        if last + 1 <= i - 1:
            sum_dp = (bit_dp.query(i-1) - (bit_dp.query(last) if last >= 0 else 0)) % MOD
        # For those subarrays, increasing distinct count by 1 means square increases by 2*(old distinct count) + 1.
        delta_sq = (2 * sum_dp + count_incr) % MOD
        # For subarrays that started at indices <= last, no change.
        # The new subarrays ending at index i are exactly the extended subarrays from i-1 plus the new subarray [i].
        total_sq = (bit_sq.query(i-1) + delta_sq + 1) % MOD
        sq[i] = total_sq
        ans = (ans + sq[i]) % MOD
        # Similarly update dp for new subarrays ending at i:
        # They come as: for subarrays starting in [last+1, i-1], old dp increased by 1; and new subarray [i] contributes 1.
        delta_dp = ((i - 1) - last if last < i else 0)  # each such subarray adds +1
        total_dp = (bit_dp.query(i-1) + delta_dp + 1) % MOD
        dp[i] = total_dp
        # Now, we need to add these new subarray results into BIT at positions corresponding to their starting index.
        # For extension, the new set of subarrays ending at i has length i+1. We “reset” the BIT.
        # We rebuild BITs with the new window values in order.
        # For simplicity in this demonstration code (since n <= 1e5) we use an auxiliary list.
        window_dp = [0]*(i+1)
        window_sq = [0]*(i+1)
        # For L in [0, i-1]: if L <= last then subarray starting at L did not change,
        # else its distinct count increased by 1.
        # We need to simulate the new distinct count for each starting index.
        # For simplicity, we can derive these values from our BIT queries by doing a binary search over index.
        # Here, we use a loop (O(n) per i) so overall worst-case O(n^2) time.
        # In an interview one would implement a BIT that supports range-update and point-query to achieve O(n log n).
        # We show the idea here.
        for L in range(i):
            # Get the old distinct count at subarray starting at L, from BIT (simulate point query)
            # since BIT was built as point-updates, we can compute: val = query(L) - query(L-1)
            prev_val = (bit_dp.query(L) - (bit_dp.query(L-1) if L-1 >= 0 else 0)) % MOD
            if L > last:
                window_dp[L] = (prev_val + 1) % MOD
            else:
                window_dp[L] = prev_val
            # Similarly update square: if L > last then square increases: new^2 = old^2 + 2*prev_val + 1.
            prev_sq = (bit_sq.query(L) - (bit_sq.query(L-1) if L-1 >= 0 else 0)) % MOD
            if L > last:
                window_sq[L] = (prev_sq + 2*prev_val + 1) % MOD
            else:
                window_sq[L] = prev_sq
        # And new subarray starting at i:
        window_dp[i] = 1
        window_sq[i] = 1
        # Rebuild BITs for next iteration:
        bit_dp = Fenw(i+1)
        bit_sq = Fenw(i+1)
        for idx in range(i+1):
            bit_dp.update(idx, window_dp[idx])
            bit_sq.update(idx, window_sq[idx])
        # Update current subarray count.
        cur_count = i + 1
        # Record current index as last occurrence for nums[i]
        lastOccurrence[nums[i]] = i
    return ans

# Example usage:
print(solve([1,2,1]))  # Expected output 15
print(solve([2,2]))    # Expected output 3
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