How often are these problems asked?
Frequency scores are based on crowdsourced interview reports. A higher score means the problem has been reported more often in recent Intel interviews.
Very Likely
75-100%
Likely
50-74%
Sometimes
25-49%
Rare
0-24%
Problem database last updated: June 20, 2025
25 problems · 10 Easy, 14 Medium, 1 Hard · Ranked #76 of 458
10 Easy
40% · avg 23%
14 Medium
56% · avg 59%
1 Hard
4% · avg 18%
Based on 25 reported problems, Intel interviews are easier than average - only 4% Hard compared to 18% across all companies. The majority (56%) of questions are Medium difficulty, which is typical for companies that want to see solid fundamentals without excessive trick questions.
Compared to the industry average, Intel puts unusual emphasis on linked-list (20% of problems, 2.8x the industry average), counting (8% of problems, 2.4x the industry average), math (24% of problems, 1.9x the industry average). If you're short on time, these are the categories to double down on.
The most common topics are array (44%), hash-table (24%), string (24%), two-pointers (24%). Problems below are sorted by frequency, the ones at the top are asked most often.
| Problem | Difficulty | Frequency | Topics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Find Consecutive Integers from a Data Stream For a stream of integers, implement a data structure that checks if the last k integers parsed in the stream are equal to value. | Medium | Very Likely | hash-tabledesignqueue | Solve |
Maximum Nesting Depth of the Parentheses Given a valid parentheses string s, return the nesting depth of s. The nesting depth is the maximum number of nested parentheses. | Easy | Very Likely | stringstack | Solve |
Trapping Rain Water Given n non-negative integers representing an elevation map where the width of each bar is 1, compute how much water it can trap after raining. | Hard | Very Likely | arraytwo-pointersdynamic-programming | Solve |
Valid Parentheses Given a string s containing just the characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[' and ']', determine if the input string is valid. | Easy | Very Likely | stringstack | Solve |
Number of Islands Given an m x n 2D binary grid grid which represents a map of '1's (land) and '0's (water), return the number of islands. | Medium | Very Likely | arraydepth-first-searchbreadth-first-search | Solve |
Copy List with Random Pointer A linked list of length n is given such that each node contains an additional random pointer, which could point to any node in the list, or null. | Medium | Very Likely | hash-tablelinked-list | Solve |
Two Sum Given an array of integers nums and an integer target, return the indices of the two numbers that add up to target. | Easy | Very Likely | arrayhash-map | Solve |
Count Primes Given an integer n, return the number of prime numbers that are strictly less than n. | Medium | Very Likely | arraymathenumeration | Solve |
Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters Given a string s, find the length of the longest substring without duplicate characters. | Medium | Very Likely | hash-tablestringsliding-window | Solve |
Reverse Integer Given a signed 32-bit integer x, return x with its digits reversed. If reversing x causes the value to go outside the signed 32-bit integer range [-231, 231 - 1... | Medium | Likely | math | Solve |
LRU Cache Design a data structure that follows the constraints of a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache. | Medium | Likely | hash-tablelinked-listdesign | Solve |
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II You are given an integer array prices where prices[i] is the price of a given stock on the ith day. | Medium | Likely | arraydynamic-programminggreedy | Solve |
Linked List Cycle Given head, the head of a linked list, determine if the linked list has a cycle in it. | Easy | Likely | hash-tablelinked-listtwo-pointers | Solve |
Container With Most Water You are given an integer array height of length n. There are n vertical lines drawn such that the two endpoints of the ith line are (i, 0) and (i, height[i]). | Medium | Likely | arraytwo-pointersgreedy | Solve |
Climbing Stairs You are climbing a staircase. It takes n steps to reach the top. | Easy | Likely | mathdynamic-programmingmemoization | Solve |
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock You are given an array prices where prices[i] is the price of a given stock on the ith day. | Easy | Likely | arraydynamic-programming | Solve |
Maximum Subarray Given an integer array nums, find the subarray with the largest sum, and return its sum. | Medium | Likely | arraydivide-and-conquerdynamic-programming | Solve |
Palindrome Number Given an integer x, return true if x is a palindrome, and false otherwise. | Easy | Likely | math | Solve |
Merge Sorted Array You are given two integer arrays nums1 and nums2, sorted in non-decreasing order, and two integers m and n, representing the number of elements in nums1 and num... | Easy | Likely | arraytwo-pointerssorting | Solve |
Reverse Words in a String Given an input string s, reverse the order of the words. | Medium | Likely | two-pointersstring | Solve |
Add Two Numbers You are given two non-empty linked lists representing two non-negative integers. The digits are stored in reverse order, and each of their nodes contains a sing... | Medium | Likely | linked-listmathrecursion | Solve |
Rotate Image You are given an n x n 2D matrix representing an image, rotate the image by 90 degrees (clockwise). | Medium | Likely | arraymathmatrix | Solve |
Valid Palindrome A phrase is a palindrome if, after converting all uppercase letters into lowercase letters and removing all non-alphanumeric characters, it reads the same forwa... | Easy | Likely | two-pointersstring | Solve |
Merge Two Sorted Lists You are given the heads of two sorted linked lists list1 and list2. | Easy | Likely | linked-listrecursion | Solve |
Top K Frequent Words Given an array of strings words and an integer k, return the k most frequent strings. | Medium | Likely | arrayhash-tablestring | Solve |
Find Consecutive Integers from a Data Stream
SolveFor a stream of integers, implement a data structure that checks if the last k integers parsed in the stream are equal to value.
Maximum Nesting Depth of the Parentheses
SolveGiven a valid parentheses string s, return the nesting depth of s. The nesting depth is the maximum number of nested parentheses.
Trapping Rain Water
SolveGiven n non-negative integers representing an elevation map where the width of each bar is 1, compute how much water it can trap after raining.
Valid Parentheses
SolveGiven a string s containing just the characters '(', ')', '{', '}', '[' and ']', determine if the input string is valid.
Number of Islands
SolveGiven an m x n 2D binary grid grid which represents a map of '1's (land) and '0's (water), return the number of islands.
Copy List with Random Pointer
SolveA linked list of length n is given such that each node contains an additional random pointer, which could point to any node in the list, or null.
Two Sum
SolveGiven an array of integers nums and an integer target, return the indices of the two numbers that add up to target.
Count Primes
SolveGiven an integer n, return the number of prime numbers that are strictly less than n.
Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters
SolveGiven a string s, find the length of the longest substring without duplicate characters.
Reverse Integer
SolveGiven a signed 32-bit integer x, return x with its digits reversed. If reversing x causes the value to go outside the signed 32-bit integer range [-231, 231 - 1...
LRU Cache
SolveDesign a data structure that follows the constraints of a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache.
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II
SolveYou are given an integer array prices where prices[i] is the price of a given stock on the ith day.
Linked List Cycle
SolveGiven head, the head of a linked list, determine if the linked list has a cycle in it.
Container With Most Water
SolveYou are given an integer array height of length n. There are n vertical lines drawn such that the two endpoints of the ith line are (i, 0) and (i, height[i]).
Climbing Stairs
SolveYou are climbing a staircase. It takes n steps to reach the top.
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock
SolveYou are given an array prices where prices[i] is the price of a given stock on the ith day.
Maximum Subarray
SolveGiven an integer array nums, find the subarray with the largest sum, and return its sum.
Palindrome Number
SolveGiven an integer x, return true if x is a palindrome, and false otherwise.
Merge Sorted Array
SolveYou are given two integer arrays nums1 and nums2, sorted in non-decreasing order, and two integers m and n, representing the number of elements in nums1 and num...
Reverse Words in a String
SolveGiven an input string s, reverse the order of the words.
Add Two Numbers
SolveYou are given two non-empty linked lists representing two non-negative integers. The digits are stored in reverse order, and each of their nodes contains a sing...
Rotate Image
SolveYou are given an n x n 2D matrix representing an image, rotate the image by 90 degrees (clockwise).
Valid Palindrome
SolveA phrase is a palindrome if, after converting all uppercase letters into lowercase letters and removing all non-alphanumeric characters, it reads the same forwa...
Merge Two Sorted Lists
SolveYou are given the heads of two sorted linked lists list1 and list2.
Top K Frequent Words
SolveGiven an array of strings words and an integer k, return the k most frequent strings.
Frequency scores are based on crowdsourced interview reports. A higher score means the problem has been reported more often in recent Intel interviews.
Very Likely
75-100%
Likely
50-74%
Sometimes
25-49%
Rare
0-24%
Intel interviews focus heavily on array, hash-table, string problems. If you're short on time, these are the categories to prioritize. The problems on this page are sorted by frequency, so start from the top and work your way down.
Beyond solving problems, practice explaining your approach. Intel interviewers care about your thought process - how you break down a problem, consider edge cases, and evaluate tradeoffs between solutions. A clean O(n) solution you can explain clearly beats an O(log n) solution you can't articulate.
Looking for more companies? Browse all 458 companies in our directory, or sharpen your fundamentals with our free data structure visualizers and AI-powered DSA tutor.
Intel has been reported to ask 25 distinct coding problems. The most common topics are array, hash-table, string. 10 are Easy difficulty, 14 are Medium, and 1 are Hard. Problems are sorted by frequency - the ones at the top are asked most often.
Based on 25 reported problems, Intel interviews are easier than average - only 4% Hard compared to 18% across all companies. 56% of questions are Medium difficulty. Focus on the high-frequency Medium problems first, then work through the Hard ones.
Start with the highest-frequency problems listed on this page. Focus on the core topics: array, hash-table, string. Practice solving them under time pressure and explaining your approach out loud. Mock interviews with AI can simulate the real experience.
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