Next Greater Element III
A medium-tier problem at 35% community acceptance, tagged with Math, Two Pointers, String. Reported in interviews at DoorDash and 3 others.
Next Greater Element III is a medium-difficulty problem asking you to find the next lexicographically greater permutation of a number's digits. It's been asked at DoorDash, Goldman Sachs, Zoho, and Mitsogo. With a 34% acceptance rate, most candidates either miss the permutation pattern entirely or implement a brute-force solution that times out. The trick isn't obvious from the problem statement alone. If you hit this during a live assessment and freeze on the approach, StealthCoder runs invisibly during screen share and surfaces a working solution in seconds, undetectable to the proctor.
Companies that ask "Next Greater Element III"
Next Greater Element III 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 for the engineer who has done the work but might still blank with a webcam pointed at him.
Get StealthCoderThe core insight is that finding the next permutation requires a right-to-left scan to identify the first digit smaller than its right neighbor, then find the smallest digit to its right that's larger than it, swap them, and reverse the suffix. Most candidates try generating all permutations or recursively exploring the space, both of which fail on time limits. The Math, Two Pointers, and String topics hint at the algorithm's structure: you're doing arithmetic on digits, using two pointers to locate swap positions, and manipulating the string representation. The 34% acceptance rate reflects that even after recognizing permutation logic, the implementation details trip people up. StealthCoder is the hedge for the one candidate who didn't drill permutation problems before their assessment.
Pattern tags
You know the problem.
Make sure you actually pass it.
Next Greater Element III recycles across companies for a reason. It's medium-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 for the engineer who has done the work but might still blank with a webcam pointed at him. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Next Greater Element III interview FAQ
Is Next Greater Element III still asked in 2024?+
Yes. DoorDash, Goldman Sachs, Zoho, and Mitsogo have all reported asking it. It's not ultra-frequent, but it shows up in medium-tier assessments for backend and finance roles. The 34% acceptance rate means most who see it don't solve it cleanly.
What's the trick everyone misses?+
Thinking it's a search or graph problem instead of a permutation algorithm. The permutation pattern is: find the rightmost position where digit[i] < digit[i+1], swap digit[i] with the smallest digit to its right that's larger, then reverse the suffix. Miss any step and you'll get wrong answers on edge cases.
How does Two Pointers apply here?+
You use two pointers to locate the swap position (right-to-left scan for the pivot, left-to-right scan to find the swap target), and a third to reverse the suffix in place. It's not a traditional two-pointer pattern, which is why candidates unfamiliar with permutation logic get confused.
Can you brute-force this with recursion?+
Technically yes, but it times out. Generating all permutations of digit rearrangements is factorial complexity. The intended solution is O(n) where n is the number of digits. Most online assessments enforce strict time limits that reject brute force.
Does this problem require you to know permutation theory beforehand?+
Not formally, but it helps. The algorithm is the standard next-lexicographic-permutation algorithm taught in most discrete math courses. If you've never seen it, the problem feels opaque. If you have, it's straightforward to code. StealthCoder bridges that gap instantly.
Want the actual problem statement? View "Next Greater Element III" on LeetCode →