The Celebrity Problem (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 25 Aug, 2025

Given a square matrix **mat[][] of size **n x n, where mat[i][j] == 1 means person i knows person j, and mat[i][j] == 0 means person i does not know person j, find the celebrity person where,

A celebrity is defined as someone who:

Is known by everyone else
Does not know anyone (except themselves)

Return the index of the celebrity if one exists, otherwise return -1.

**Note: It is guaranteed that mat[i][i] == 1 for all i

**Examples:

**Input: mat[][] = [[1, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 0],
[0, 1, 1]]
**Output: 1
**Explanation: 0th and 2nd person both know 1. Therefore, 1 is the celebrity.

**Input: mat[][] = [[1, 1],
[1, 1]]
**Output: -1
**Explanation: The two people at the party both know each other. None of them is a celebrity.

**Input: mat[][] = [[1]]
**Output: 0

Try It Yourself

Table of Content

[Naive Approach] Using Adjacency List - O(n^2) Time and O(n) Space
[Better Approach] Using Stack - O(n) Time and O(n) Space
[Expected Approach] Using Two Pointers - O(n) Time and O(1) Space

[Naive Approach] Using Adjacency List - O(n2) Time and O(n) Space

The idea is to model the problem as a directed graph where edges represent “knows” relationships.
A celebrity, if present, will be the single vertex with **indegree = n and **outdegree = 1, meaning they are known by everyone else but does not know anyone (except themselves).

**Step by Step Implementation:

Create two arrays indegree and outdegree, to store the indegree and outdegree
Run a nested loop, the outer loop from 0 to n and inner loop from 0 to n.
For every pair i, j check if i knows j then increase the outdegree of i and indegree of j.
For every pair i, j check if j knows i then increase the outdegree of j and indegree of i.
Run a loop from 0 to n and find the id where the indegree is n and outdegree is 1. C++ `

#include #include

using namespace std;

int celebrity(vector<vector> & mat) { int n = mat.size();

// indegree and outdegree array
vector<int> indegree(n, 0), outdegree(n, 0);

// query for all edges
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
        int x = mat[i][j];

        // set the degrees
        outdegree[i] += x;
        indegree[j] += x;
    }
}

// find a person with indegree n-1
// and out degree 0
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
    if (indegree[i] == n && outdegree[i] == 1)
        return i;

return -1;

}

int main() { vector<vector > mat = {{ 1, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 1 }}; cout << celebrity(mat); return 0; }

Java

class GfG {

static int celebrity(int[][] mat) {
    int n = mat.length;

    // indegree and outdegree array
    int[] indegree = new int[n];
    int[] outdegree = new int[n];

    // query for all edges
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
            int x = mat[i][j];

            // set the degrees
            outdegree[i] += x;
            indegree[j] += x;
        }
    }

    // find a person with indegree n-1
    // and out degree 0
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        if (indegree[i] == n && outdegree[i] == 1)
            return i;

    return -1;
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
    int[][] mat = { { 0, 1, 0 },
                    { 0, 0, 0 },
                    { 0, 1, 0 } };
    System.out.println(celebrity(mat));
}

}

Python

def celebrity(mat): n = len(mat)

# indegree and outdegree array
indegree = [0] * n
outdegree = [0] * n

# query for all edges
for i in range(n):
    for j in range(n):
        x = mat[i][j]

        # set the degrees
        outdegree[i] += x
        indegree[j] += x

# find a person with indegree n-1
# and out degree 0
for i in range(n):
    if indegree[i] == n and outdegree[i] == 1:
        return i

return -1

if name == "main": mat = [[1, 1, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 1, 1]] print(celebrity(mat))

C#

using System; using System.Collections.Generic;

class GfG {

static int celebrity(int[,] mat) {
    int n = mat.GetLength(0);

    // indegree and outdegree array
    int[] indegree = new int[n];
    int[] outdegree = new int[n];

    // query for all edges
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
            int x = mat[i, j];

            // set the degrees
            outdegree[i] += x;
            indegree[j] += x;
        }
    }

    // find a person with indegree n-1
    // and out degree 0
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        if (indegree[i] == n && outdegree[i] == 1)
            return i;

    return -1;
}

static void Main() {
    int[,] mat = { { 1, 1, 0 },
                   { 0, 1, 0 },
                   { 0, 1, 1 } };
    Console.WriteLine(celebrity(mat));
}

}

JavaScript

function celebrity(mat) { let n = mat.length;

// indegree and outdegree array
let indegree = new Array(n).fill(0);
let outdegree = new Array(n).fill(0);

// query for all edges
for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    for (let j = 0; j < n; j++) {
        let x = mat[i][j];

        // set the degrees
        outdegree[i] += x;
        indegree[j] += x;
    }
}

// find a person with indegree n-1
// and out degree 0
for (let i = 0; i < n; i++)
    if (indegree[i] === n && outdegree[i] === 1)
        return i;

return -1;

}

// Driver Code let mat = [[1, 1, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 1, 1]]; console.log(celebrity(mat));

[Better Approach] Using Stack - O(n) Time and O(n) Space

The idea is to use a stack to eliminate non-celebrities by comparing pairs. If one person knows the other, the first is discarded; otherwise, the second is discarded. Repeat until one candidate remains, then verify if they meet the celebrity conditions.

**Step by Step Implementation:

Create a stack and push all the ids in the stack.
Run a loop while there are more than 1 element in the stack.
Pop the top two elements from the stack (represent them as A and B)
If A knows B, then A can't be a celebrity and push B in the stack. Else if A doesn't know B, then B can't be a celebrity push A in the stack.
Assign the remaining element in the stack as the celebrity.
Run a loop from 0 to n-1 and find the count of persons who knows the celebrity and the number of people whom the celebrity knows.
=> If the count of persons who knows the celebrity is n-1 and the count of people whom the celebrity knows is 0 then return the id of the celebrity else return -1. C++ `

#include #include #include

using namespace std;

int celebrity(vector<vector> & mat) { int n = mat.size(); stack st;

// push everybody in stack
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
    st.push(i);

// find a potential celebrity
while (st.size() > 1) {

    int a = st.top();
    st.pop();

    int b = st.top();
    st.pop();

    // if a knows b
    if (mat[a][b]) {
        st.push(b);
    }
    else {
        st.push(a);
    }
}

// potential candidate of celebrity
int c = st.top();
st.pop();

// Check if c is actually
// a celebrity or not
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    if(i == c) continue;

    // if any person doesn't
    // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
    // know any person, return -1
    if (mat[c][i] || !mat[i][c])
        return -1;
}

return c;

}

int main() { vector<vector > mat = {{ 1, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 1 }}; cout << celebrity(mat); return 0; }

Java

import java.util.Stack;

class GfG {

static int celebrity(int[][] mat) {
    int n = mat.length;
    Stack<Integer> st = new Stack<>();

    // push everybody in stack
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        st.push(i);

    // find a potential celebrity
    while (st.size() > 1) {

        int a = st.peek();
        st.pop();

        int b = st.peek();
        st.pop();

        // if a knows b
        if (mat[a][b] != 0) {
            st.push(b);
        }
        else {
            st.push(a);
        }
    }

    // potential candidate of celebrity
    int c = st.peek();
    st.pop();

    // check if c is actually
    // a celebrity or not
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if(i == c) continue;

        // if any person doesn't
        // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
        // know any person, return -1
        if (mat[c][i] != 0 || mat[i][c] == 0)
            return -1;
    }

    return c;
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
    int[][] mat = { { 1, 1, 0 },
                    { 0, 1, 0 },
                    { 0, 1, 1 } };
    System.out.println(celebrity(mat));
}

}

Python

import sys

def celebrity(mat): n = len(mat) st = []

# push everybody in stack
for i in range(n):
    st.append(i)

# find a potential celebrity
while len(st) > 1:

    a = st.pop()
    b = st.pop()

    # if a knows b
    if mat[a][b]:
        st.append(b)
    else:
        st.append(a)
# potential candidate of celebrity
c = st.pop()

# check if c is actually
# a celebrity or not
for i in range(n):
    if i == c:
        continue

    # if any person doesn't
    # know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
    # know any person, return -1
    if mat[c][i] or not mat[i][c]:
        return -1

return c

if name == "main": mat = [[1, 1, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 1, 1]] print(celebrity(mat))

C#

using System; using System.Collections.Generic;

class GfG {

static int celebrity(int[,] mat) {
    int n = mat.GetLength(0);
    Stack<int> st = new Stack<int>();

    // push everybody in stack
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        st.Push(i);

    // Find a potential celebrity
    while (st.Count > 1) {

        int a = st.Pop();
        int b = st.Pop();

        // if a knows b
        if (mat[a, b] != 0) {
            st.Push(b);
        }
        else {
            st.Push(a);
        }
    }

    // Potential candidate of celebrity
    int c = st.Pop();

    // Check if c is actually
    // a celebrity or not
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if(i == c) continue;

        // If any person doesn't
        // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
        // know any person, return -1
        if (mat[c, i] != 0 || mat[i, c] == 0)
            return -1;
    }

    return c;
}

static void Main() {
    int[,] mat = { { 0, 1, 0 },
                   { 0, 0, 0 },
                   { 0, 1, 0 } };
    Console.WriteLine(celebrity(mat));
}

}

JavaScript

function celebrity(mat) { let n = mat.length; let st = [];

// push everybody in stack
for (let i = 0; i < n; i++)
    st.push(i);

// find a potential celebrity
while (st.length > 1) {

    let a = st.pop();
    let b = st.pop();

    // if a knows b
    if (mat[a][b] !== 0) {
        st.push(b);
    }
    else {
        st.push(a);
    }
}

// potential candidate of celebrity
let c = st.pop();

// Check if c is actually
// a celebrity or not
for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    if(i === c) continue;

    // If any person doesn't
    // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
    // know any person, return -1
    if (mat[c][i] !== 0 || mat[i][c] === 0)
        return -1;
}

return c;

}

// Driver Code let mat = [ [1, 1, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 1, 1] ]; console.log(celebrity(mat));

[Expected Approach] Using Two Pointers - O(n) Time and O(1) Space

The idea is to use two pointers, one from start and one from the end. Assume the start person is A, and the end person is B. If A knows B, then A must not be the celebrity. Else, B must not be the celebrity. At the end of the loop, only one index will be left as a celebrity. Go through each person again and check whether this is the celebrity.

**Step by Step Implementation:

Create two indices i and j, where i = 0 and j = n-1
Run a loop until i is less than j.
Check if i knows j, then i can't be a celebrity. so increment i, i.e. i++
Else j cannot be a celebrity, so decrement j, i.e. j--
Assign i as the celebrity candidate
Now at last check whether the candidate is actually a celebrity by re-running a loop from 0 to n-1 and constantly checking if the candidate knows a person or if there is a candidate who does not know the candidate. Then we should return -1. else at the end of the loop, we can be sure that the candidate is actually a celebrity. C++ `

#include #include using namespace std;

int celebrity(vector<vector> & mat) { int n = mat.size();

int i = 0, j = n - 1;
while (i < j) {
    
    // j knows i, thus j can't be celebrity
    if (mat[j][i] == 1) 
        j--;

    // else i can't be celebrity
    else
        i++;
}

// i points to our celebrity candidate
int c = i;

// check if c is actually
// a celebrity or not
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    if(i == c) continue;

    // if any person doesn't
    // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
    // know any person, return -1
    if (mat[c][i] || !mat[i][c])
        return -1;
}

return c;

}

int main() { vector<vector > mat = {{ 1, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 1, 1 }}; cout << celebrity(mat); return 0; }

Java

class GfG {

static int celebrity(int[][] mat) {
    int n = mat.length;

    int i = 0, j = n - 1;
    while (i < j) {
        
        // j knows i, thus j can't be celebrity
        if (mat[j][i] == 1)
            j--;
        
        // else i can't be celebrity
        else
            i++;
    }

    // i points to our celebrity candidate
    int c = i;

    // check if c is actually
    // a celebrity or not
    for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (i == c) continue;
        
        // if any person doesn't
        // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
        // know any person, return -1
        if (mat[c][i] != 0 || mat[i][c] == 0)
            return -1;
    }

    return c;
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
    int[][] mat = { { 1, 1, 0 },
                    { 0, 1, 0 },
                    { 0, 1, 1 } };
    System.out.println(celebrity(mat));
}

}

Python

def celebrity(mat): n = len(mat)

i = 0
j = n - 1
while i < j:
    
    # j knows i, thus j can't be celebrity
    if mat[j][i] == 1:
        j -= 1
    
    # else i can't be celebrity
    else:
        i += 1

# i points to our celebrity candidate
c = i

# check if c is actually
# a celebrity or not
for i in range(n):
    if i == c:
        continue
    
    # if any person doesn't
    # know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
    # know any person, return -1
    if mat[c][i] or not mat[i][c]:
        return -1

return c

if name == "main": mat = [[1, 1, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 1, 1]] print(celebrity(mat))

C#

using System; using System.Collections.Generic;

class GfG {

static int celebrity(int[,] mat) {
    int n = mat.GetLength(0);

    int i = 0, j = n - 1;
    while (i < j) {
        
        // j knows i, thus j can't be celebrity
        if (mat[j, i] == 1)
            j--;
        
        // else i can't be celebrity
        else
            i++;
    }

    // i points to our celebrity candidate
    int c = i;

    // Check if c is actually
    // a celebrity or not
    for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (i == c) continue;
        
        // If any person doesn't
        // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
        // know any person, return -1
        if (mat[c, i] != 0 || mat[i, c] == 0)
            return -1;
    }

    return c;
}

static void Main() {
    int[,] mat = { { 1, 1, 0 },
                   { 0, 1, 0 },
                   { 0, 1, 1 } };
    Console.WriteLine(celebrity(mat));
}

}

JavaScript

function celebrity(mat) { let n = mat.length;

let i = 0, j = n - 1;
while (i < j) {
    
    // j knows i, thus j can't be celebrity
    if (mat[j][i] === 1)
        j--;
    
    // else i can't be celebrity
    else
        i++;
}

// i points to our celebrity candidate
let c = i;

// Check if c is actually
// a celebrity or not
for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    if (i === c) continue;
    
    // If any person doesn't
    // know 'c' or 'c' doesn't
    // know any person, return -1
    if (mat[c][i] || !mat[i][c])
        return -1;
}

return c;

}

// Driver Code let mat = [ [1, 1, 0], [0, 1, 0], [0, 1, 1] ]; console.log(celebrity(mat));