Merge Intervals

The “Merge Intervals” coding pattern is a common algorithmic technique used to merge or combine overlapping intervals in a collection. This pattern is particularly useful when dealing with problems involving time intervals, schedules, or any range-based data. Here’s a brief explanation of how the Merge Intervals pattern works:

1. Sort Intervals: Start by sorting the intervals based on their start or end points. This is a crucial step because it helps to identify overlapping intervals efficiently.
2. Iterate and Merge: Traverse the sorted intervals one by one. As you iterate, compare the current interval with the previous one. If they overlap, merge them into a single interval.
3. Add to Result: If the current interval doesn’t overlap with the previous merged interval, add the merged interval to the result set. Update the merged interval to the current interval.
4. Repeat: Continue this process for all intervals, updating and merging as needed.

The key idea behind the Merge Intervals pattern is to sort the intervals first to simplify the merging process. By sorting, you ensure that overlapping intervals are adjacent, making it easier to detect and merge them during traversal.

This pattern is commonly used in various coding problems, such as merging calendar events, finding overlapping meetings, or optimizing resource allocation. It’s important to consider edge cases and handle situations where intervals might not be sorted or where intervals are adjacent without overlapping.

• Non-Overlapping Intervals.
  Given a collection of intervals, represented as pairs of integers [start, end], where start denotes the start time of the interval and end denotes the end time of the interval. Find the minimum number of intervals that need to be removed in order to make the remaining intervals non-overlapping.
• Merge Intervals
  Given a collection of intervals, represented as pairs of integers [start, end], where start denotes the start time of the interval and end denotes the end time of the interval. Merge overlapping intervals to create non-overlapping intervals.
• Insert Intervals
  Given a collection of non-overlapping intervals, represented as pairs of integers [start, end], where start denotes the start time of the interval and end denotes the end time of the interval, and a new interval [newStart, newEnd], insert the new interval into the existing intervals and merge overlapping intervals if necessary.
• Interval List Intersections
  An intersection is a closed interval that represents the overlap between two intervals. If there is no intersection, the result should be an empty list.
• Employee Free Time
  You are given a list of employees’ working hours as a list of intervals. Each…
• Meeting Rooms
  Given a list of meeting intervals, represented as pairs of integers [start, end], where start denotes the start time of the meeting and end denotes the end time of the meeting, determine if a person can attend all meetings without any overlaps.
• Meeting Rooms II
  Given a list of meeting intervals, represented as pairs of integers [start, end], where start denotes the start time of the meeting and end denotes the end time of the meeting, find the minimum number of meeting rooms required to hold all the meetings without any overlaps.
• Meeting Scheduler
  You are given the availability of two people’s schedules, represented as lists of intervals [start, end]. Each interval represents the available time for each person, and it is a closed interval (inclusive) denoting the time the person is available for a meeting.