Because maybe not the complete linkedList is within the loop. For a linked list lasso detection algorithm, you need two pointers: As long as the first pointer is where the cowboy is, no loop is detected. But if you move it stepwise forward, it will eventually enter the loop. BTW, lasso is the terminus technicus … Read more
From a correctness perspective, there is no reason that you need to use the number two. Any choice of step size will work (except for one, of course). However, choosing a step of size two maximizes efficiency. To see this, let’s take a look at why Floyd’s algorithm works in the first place. The idea … Read more
Let me try to clarify the cycle detection algorithm that is provided at Wikipedia – Tortoise_and_hare in my own words. How it works Let’s have a tortoise and a hare (name of the pointers) pointing to the beginning of the list with a cycle, as in the diagram above. Let’s hypothesize that if we move … Read more