Product Sales Analysis I — LeetCode #1068 (Easy)
Tags: Database
Related patterns: Hash Map, Array
Brute Force approach
Time complexity: O(n²). Space complexity: O(1).
In the brute force approach, we can iterate through each sale in the Sales table and then for each sale, look up the corresponding product name in the Product table. This is straightforward but inefficient as it requires multiple lookups.
This complexity arises because for each sale (n), we are performing a lookup in the Product table (also n), resulting in O(n * n).
- Step 1: For each row in the Sales table, get the product_id.
- Step 2: For each product_id, perform a lookup in the Product table to find the product_name.
- Step 3: Collect the sale_id, product_name, year, and price for each sale.
1. Sale ID 1: product_id 100 -> lookup Product table -> product_name 'Nokia'. Result: (1, 'Nokia', 2008, 5000).
2. Sale ID 2: product_id 100 -> lookup Product table -> product_name 'Nokia'. Result: (2, 'Nokia', 2009, 5000).
3. Sale ID 7: product_id 200 -> lookup Product table -> product_name 'Apple'. Result: (7, 'Apple', 2011, 9000).
Optimal Solution approach
Time complexity: O(n). Space complexity: O(n).
The optimal solution uses a JOIN operation to combine the Sales and Product tables in a single query. This avoids the need for multiple lookups and is much more efficient.
The complexity is O(n) because we are processing each sale exactly once in a single JOIN operation.
- Step 1: Use a SQL JOIN to combine the Sales and Product tables based on the product_id.
- Step 2: Select the required columns: sale_id, product_name, year, and price.
- Step 3: Return the result set.
1. Combine Sales and Product: (1, 100, 2008, 5000, 'Nokia'), (2, 100, 2009, 5000, 'Nokia'), (7, 200, 2011, 9000, 'Apple').
2. Result: (1, 'Nokia', 2008, 5000), (2, 'Nokia', 2009, 5000), (7, 'Apple', 2011, 9000).
Key Insights
- Using JOINs in SQL can significantly reduce the time complexity of queries by avoiding nested loops.
- Understanding the structure of your data (like foreign keys) is crucial for efficient querying.
Common Mistakes
- Not using JOINs effectively and instead relying on multiple queries or nested loops.
- Overlooking the importance of indexing on foreign keys which can speed up lookups.
Interview Tips
- Always think about how you can reduce the number of operations in your solution.
- Practice writing SQL queries with JOINs to become comfortable with combining data from multiple tables.
- Be prepared to explain your thought process and the reasoning behind your chosen approach.