Decode the Coding Interview in C++: Real-World Examples/

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Minimum Knight Moves

Minimum Knight Moves

Understand and solve the interview question "Minimum Knight Moves".

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Description

We have an infinite chessboard with coordinates starting from -infinity to infinity. Our knight starts in square (0, 0).

The knight has eight possible moves at a given time. It can move in an L-shape, meaning it can move two squares in any direction vertically and then one square horizontally or two squares in any direction horizontally and then one square vertically.

You need to find the minimum moves the knight needs to get from the origin (0,0) to the coordinates (x,y). We will assume that the provided coordinates are always reachable and the constraint |x| + |y| <= 300 holds.

For example, given the input coordinate, (5, 5) you have to find the minimum number of moves required for the knight to get from the origin to the coordinate. In this case, the program will output four because the knight needs four moves to get to the coordinate.

Coding exercise

int minimumKnightMoves(int x, int y){
    // Write your code here.
    return -1;
}
Minimum knight moves

Solution

Notice that the knight’s movements to both the positive and negative coordinates and the axis are symmetrical. The same number of moves are required to get to both the positive and negative coordinates. The knight can move in any of the eight directions at any given time by adding the following coordinates, [{1, 2}, {2, 1}, {-1, 2}, {1, -2}, {-1, -2}, {-2, -1}, {-2, ...