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How to Solve Longest String Chain Problem
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Medium#1048
LeetCode ProblemLongest String Chain
You are given an array of words where each word consists of lowercase English letters. wordA is a predecessor of wordB if and only if we can insert exactly one letter anywhere in wordA without changing the order of the other characters to make it equal to wordB. A word chain is a sequence of words [word1, word2, ..., wordk] with k >= 1, where word1 is a predecessor of word2, word2 is a predecessor of word3, and so on. A single word is trivially a word chain with k == 1. Return the length of the longest possible word chain with words chosen from the given list of words.
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Problem Breakdown
Understanding the Longest String Chain Problem
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Problem Statement
You are given an array of words where each word consists of lowercase English letters. wordA is a predecessor of wordB if and only if we can insert exactly one letter anywhere in wordA without changing the order of the other characters to make it equal to wordB. A word chain is a sequence of words [word1, word2, ..., wordk] with k >= 1, where word1 is a predecessor of word2, word2 is a predecessor of word3, and so on. A single word is trivially a word chain with k == 1. Return the length of the longest possible word chain with words chosen from the given list of words.
MediumProblem #1048
LeetCodeLongest String Chain
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Examples
# Example 1
Input
words = ["a","b","ba","bca","bda","bdca"]
Output
4
# Example 2
Input
words = ["xbc","pcxbcf","xb","cxbc","pcxbc"]
Output
5
# Example 3
Input
words = ["abcd","dbqca"]
Output
1
Constraints
1 <= words.length <= 1000
1 <= words[i].length <= 16
words[i] only consists of lowercase English letters.
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Solve Longest String Chain — You are given an array of words where each word consists of lowercase English le...
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def solve(input):
# Optimal O(n) solution
return result
Time: O(n) | Space: O(n)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about solving Longest String Chain and using PhantomCodeAI during coding interviews.
How does PhantomCodeAI help with LeetCode problems during a coding interview?
PhantomCodeAI reads the problem from a screenshot or listens to it via audio, then generates a complete solution with a step-by-step approach and time/space complexity, so you can focus on explaining your reasoning rather than getting stuck on implementation.
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Yes. Capture the modified problem by screenshot or audio and get an updated solution within seconds, including new edge cases and optimizations.
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