Maximum Count of Positives or Negatives

Medium

Question

Given a sorted list of integers, return the maximum count between the number of negative integers and number of positive integers in the list.

Remember, 0 is neither negative nor positive.

Note: Solve this problem in O(logn) time.

Input: [-3, 0, 0, 5, 6, 8]

Output: 3

There is 1 negative integer and 3 positive integers. The maximum count is 3.

Input: [-3, -2, -2, -1, 4, 5]

Output: 4

There is 4 negative integers and 2 positive integers. The maximum count is 4.

Input: [8]

Output: 1

There is 1 positive integer and 0 negative integers. The maximum count is 1.

What are some questions you'd ask an interviewer?

What is the maximum count of positive or negative integers for this given list? [-7, -5, -3, -1, -1, 0, 2, 4, 4, 6]