Binary Searchmedium45 minBackend Engineer

Cache Minimum Feasible Throughput

Backend Engineer signal: binary search on answer + monotonic predicate in a multi-region cache context. This is a ProdMatch-owned backend engineer drill, framed as a April 2026 Flipkart Edge Platform simulation, not a copied platform question.

Company context

Flipkart · Edge Platform

Freshness

April 2026

Product surface

multi-region cache

ProdMatch interview simulation based on product-team patterns; not a claim of a real company question.

Question

For multi-region cache, choose the minimum processing rate so all keys finish before deadline. Each worker can process rate units per minute, rounded up per item.

Input

Work item sizes and deadline minutes.

Output

Minimum integer rate.

Constraints

1 <= items.length <= 200000
1 <= item size <= 1e9
Deadline is at least items.length.

Concepts

idempotency
queues
rate limiting
binary search on answer
monotonic predicate

sizes [3,6,7,11], deadline=8 -> 4

Approach

Try framing your own approach first. The 30 seconds you think before peeking is where learning happens.

Clean Solution

Reveal the approach first.

How well did you understand?

Your rating tunes when this problem shows up again.

Common Mistakes

Use low + (high - low) // 2 to avoid overflow.
The predicate must be monotonic or binary search is invalid.

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