The max product of consecutive elements in an array

Question

I was asked this algorithm question during my onsite interview. Since I was not asked to sign NDA, I post it here for an answer.

Given an array of REAL

Answer 1

In O(n) result. Find the consecutive elements that yield max product, by multiplying each element from left to right and saving them in a list. If the new product is bigger than the last multiply the next element and update the list. If not start a new list and repeat. Algorithm in Python 3.3 :

import numpy as np

x = [-500,-400,200,0.1,-100,20,-10,2]

prod_seq_lists = [[x[0], x[1]]]  # Start assuming the first 2 elements have max product and save them in a list
product_result = []  # Contains the product of each list


for e in x[2:]:  # Start for loop from 3rd element
    if x[0] == 0 or x[1] == 0 or e == 0:  # Raise error if there's a 0
        raise IndexError('Found 0')

    temp_b = np.prod(prod_seq_lists[-1])  # Calculate the product of the last list in max_prod_seq
    temp_a = temp_b * e  # Multiply the new_element

    if temp_a >= temp_b:  # If last_list*new_element >= last_list
        prod_seq_lists[-1].append(e)  # Append the new_element in your last_list

        if e == x[-1]:
            product_result.append(temp_a)  # Save the product of the last list

    else:
        product_result.append(temp_b)  # Save the product of each list
        prod_seq_lists.append([e])  # Else, append append the new element in a new_list


print("Your array: ", prod_seq_lists)
print("The list with max product of consecutive elements: ", prod_seq_lists[np.argmax(product_result)])  # Get index of the maximum product and print that list
print("The max product of consecutive elements: ", max(product_result))

Returns :

Your array:  [[-50, -40, 20], [0.1], [-100], [20], [-10], [90, 1000]]
The list with max product of consecutive elements:  [90, 1000]
The max product of consecutive elements:  90000