Squares Of a Sorted Array

Introduction The "Squares of a Sorted Array" problem is a common question that helps us understand arrays and the two-pointer technique. Problem Statement Given a sorted array of integers (which may include negative numbers), return a new array of the squares of each number, also sorted in non-decreasing order. Approach (Two-Pointer Technique) Since negative numbers become positive after squaring, we use two pointers: Initialize: left = 0 right = n - 1 Compare squares of left and right elements Place the larger square at the end of result array Move the corresponding pointer Repeat until all elements are processed Python Code python def sorted_squares(nums): n = len(nums) result = [0] * n left, right = 0, n - 1 pos = n - 1 while left <= right: if abs(nums[left]) > abs(nums[right]): result[pos] = nums[left] ** 2 left += 1 else: result[pos] = nums[right] ** 2 right -= 1 pos -= 1 return result # Example nums = [-4, -1, 0, 3, 10] print("Sorted Squares:", sorted_squares(nums)) ## Input [-4,