Majority Element
A easy-tier problem at 66% community acceptance, tagged with Array, Hash Table, Divide and Conquer. Reported in interviews at CVENT and 26 others.
Majority Element shows up in real OAs from Qualcomm, DE Shaw, Accenture, and a dozen other companies. It's easy enough that you should solve it cold, but the acceptance rate sits at 66%, which means people blank on the optimal trick during the live assessment. The problem asks you to find the element appearing more than n/2 times in an array. There's a brute-force path that works but tanks on follow-ups. If you hit this problem live and can't remember the pattern, StealthCoder surfaces a working solution in seconds while the proctor watches your screen.
Companies that ask "Majority Element"
Majority Element is the kind of problem that decides whether you pass. StealthCoder reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Invisible to screen share. The proctor sees nothing. Made by a working Amazon engineer who got tired of watching qualified friends bomb OAs they'd solve cold in an IDE.
Get StealthCoderThe naive approach is to hash everything or sort and return the middle element. Both work, both pass. The real test is whether you know the Boyer-Moore Voting Algorithm, which solves it in O(n) time and O(1) space by tracking a candidate and a count, then verifying the candidate actually has majority. Most candidates either don't know it exists or confuse it with other counting tricks. The problem tests Array and Hash Table fundamentals, but the divide-and-conquer and sorting angles matter less in interviews. When the interviewer asks 'can you do better than hash table space,' that's when candidates freeze. StealthCoder is the hedge for that moment, giving you the algorithm to code while you stay composed.
Pattern tags
You know the problem.
Make sure you actually pass it.
Majority Element recycles across companies for a reason. It's easy-tier, and most candidates blank under the timer. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay invisible during screen share. It reads the problem and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Made by a working Amazon engineer who got tired of watching qualified friends bomb OAs they'd solve cold in an IDE. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Majority Element interview FAQ
Is this really asked at FAANG companies?+
Not FAANG directly in the input, but it appears across Qualcomm, DE Shaw, Accenture, and 24 other companies. DE Shaw especially uses it. The acceptance rate is 66%, so it's common enough that you should know it, not common enough that everyone solves it right.
What's the trick everyone misses?+
Boyer-Moore Voting Algorithm. Track a candidate and a count. When count hits zero, flip the candidate. One pass to find the candidate, second pass to verify it has majority. O(n) time, O(1) space. Most people hash or sort instead and miss the follow-up.
Does the easy difficulty mean I shouldn't study it?+
No. Easy difficulty means the code is short, not that the insight is obvious. The 66% acceptance rate says plenty of candidates fumble it. The algorithm itself is medium-level thinking. Study it.
How does this relate to Hash Table and Sorting?+
Hash Table is the straightforward path, count occurrences, return the max. Sorting puts the majority element at the middle by definition. Both work but waste space or time. The problem touches all five topics, but the voting algorithm is the one that scales.
What if I forget Boyer-Moore during the OA?+
Start with hash table. It's guaranteed correct, passes most test cases, and buys you time. Then ask if they want you to optimize space. If you blank on the optimal move, that's where StealthCoder saves you, invisible during screen share.
Want the actual problem statement? View "Majority Element" on LeetCode →