Maximum Consecutive Ones III Visualizer: Sliding Window with K Flips

Maximum Consecutive Ones III: how it works

1. K Flips = K Zeros Allowed

   You can flip at most k zeros to ones. Equivalently: find the longest window containing at most k zeros. Sliding window with a "zeros count" tracks the constraint.

2. Expand and Shrink

   Expand right: if the new element is 0, increment zeros counter. When zeros > k, shrink from left: if the removed element was 0, decrement zeros. Record max window length at every step.

3. Why this works

   The window always represents the largest valid subarray ending at right. Shrinking only when the constraint is violated ensures we never miss a longer valid window.

4. Complexity

   O(N) time, because each element enters and leaves the window at most once. O(1) space: only two pointers and a zeros counter.

Complexity

Best-case time

O(N)

Average time

O(N)

Worst-case time

O(N)

Space

O(1)

Generalizes to: longest window with at most k "bad" elements (any character, any condition). Same template applies to many LeetCode problems.