Section 1Understand Problem
Section 01
Understand the problem
Restate the problem precisely. Interviewers reward candidates who pause, define the contract, and name the guarantees before coding.
Problem statement
Given an `m x n` binary matrix `mat`, return the distance of the nearest `0` for each cell. The distance between two adjacent cells is 1.
Example
mat = [[0,0,0],[0,1,0],[0,0,0]] → [[0,0,0],[0,1,0],[0,0,0]]
Constraints
1 ≤ m, n ≤ 10⁴ · 1 ≤ m·n ≤ 10⁴ · mat[i][j] ∈ {0, 1} · At least one 0 exists in the matrix.
Audio recording unsupported on this browser.
WPM—Fillers0Pace—Thinking0%
Explain the problem in your own words
0 words0 chars
AI Review
Write your thinking above first.
Once you've drafted a response, click Submit for AI review and a senior engineer will critique your reasoning.
Ready to submit Section 1?
The reviewer will check whether you stated inputs, output, guarantees, and any assumption you flagged.
Write at least a couple of sentences explaining the problem before submitting.