Binary Searchhard70 minBackend Engineer

Settlement Minimum Feasible Throughput

Backend Engineer signal: binary search on answer + monotonic predicate in a settlement batches context. This is a ProdMatch-owned backend engineer drill, framed as a March 2026 ServiceNow Payouts simulation, not a copied platform question.

Company context

ServiceNow · Payouts

Freshness

March 2026

Product surface

settlement batches

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

Question

For settlement batches, choose the minimum processing rate so all batches 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.

Next Similar Problems

Idempotency Minimum Feasible Throughputmedium Ledger Minimum Feasible Throughputmedium Courier Minimum Feasible Throughputmedium