Algorithm to calculate number of intersecting discs

Question

Given an array A of N integers we draw N discs in a 2D plane, such that i-th disc has center in (0,i) and a radius

Answer 1

This can even be done in linear time. In fact, it becomes easier if you ignore the fact that there is exactly one interval centered at each point, and just treat it as a set of start- and endpoints of intervals. You can then just scan it from the left (Python code for simplicity):

from collections import defaultdict

a = [1, 5, 2, 1, 4, 0]

start = defaultdict(int)
stop = defaultdict(int)

for i in range(len(a)):
    start[i - a[i]] += 1
    stop[i + a[i]] += 1

active = 0
intersections = 0
for i in range(-len(a), len(a)):
    intersections += active * start[i] + (start[i] * (start[i] - 1)) / 2    
    active += start[i]
    active -= stop[i]

print intersections