Asked about Solving one under interview conditions

How do you approach a problem you have not seen before?

An answer that works

Restate it, clarify input size and edge cases, give the brute force with its complexity, identify the wasteful part, propose the improvement and its complexity, then write it while narrating. The brute force is not a concession, it is a working baseline and thinking time.

Reading an answer is not being able to give one. The section that teaches this is Solving one under interview conditions, 6 hours of Data structures & algorithms.

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