Aurora Feather Lights
Deep in the Borealis Strait, the sky lanes are guided by shimmering aurora displays. Your task in Aurora Feather Lights is to calculate the total number of illuminated feathers after several geometric "sweeps." Each sweep follows a recursive pattern: a new guiding feather is added, and the entire previous display is replicated four times through mirrored paths across the sky!
The "secret sauce" here is an Exponential Recurrence formula: f(n) = 1 + 4 × f(n-1), where the base case starts at 1. This means the display grows at a staggering rate as the number of sweeps increases. Your solution needs to handle non-negative inputs efficiently to project exactly how many "feather lights" will be in the sky. It’s essential for timing caravans and ensuring the safety of travelers under the northern lights.
This challenge is a great way to practice recursive thinking and exponential growth. It turns a beautiful celestial display into a precise mathematical model that’s both fast and elegant to calculate for sky lane safety!
Examples
Four sweeps follow the rule, producing three hundred forty-one shimmering feathers.
Only the opening feather lantern glows.
The second sweep adds one feather and echoes the earlier light four times.
Algorithm Flow

Best Answers
import java.util.*;
class Solution {
public int[][] find_maximal_balanced_subarrays(int[] nums) {
int p0 = 0, p1 = 0, p2 = 0;
Map<String, List<Integer>> diffs = new HashMap<>();
diffs.computeIfAbsent("0,0", k -> new ArrayList<>()).add(-1);
for (int i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) {
int r = (nums[i] % 3 + 3) % 3;
if (r == 0) p0++;
else if (r == 1) p1++;
else p2++;
String key = (p0 - p1) + "," + (p1 - p2);
diffs.computeIfAbsent(key, k -> new ArrayList<>()).add(i);
}
List<int[]> balanced = new ArrayList<>();
for (List<Integer> indices : diffs.values()) {
for (int a = 0; a < indices.size(); a++) {
for (int b = a + 1; b < indices.size(); b++) {
balanced.add(new int[]{indices.get(a) + 1, indices.get(b)});
}
}
}
List<int[]> maximal = new ArrayList<>();
for (int[] b1 : balanced) {
boolean isSub = false;
for (int[] b2 : balanced) {
if (b2[0] <= b1[0] && b2[1] >= b1[1] && (b2[0] != b1[0] || b2[1] != b1[1])) {
isSub = true;
break;
}
}
if (!isSub) maximal.add(b1);
}
maximal.sort(Comparator.comparingInt(a -> a[0]));
int[][] result = new int[maximal.size()][];
for (int i = 0; i < maximal.size(); i++) {
int start = maximal.get(i)[0];
int end = maximal.get(i)[1];
result[i] = Arrays.copyOfRange(nums, start, end + 1);
}
return result;
}
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