Foundations Loops through pattern printing
14. Half Diamond
Easy
Given an integer n, return the pattern below as a list of strings, one string per row, top row first.
*
**
***
****
***
**
*
That is the pattern for n = 4. The rows grow by one star at a time until a row holds n stars, and then
they shrink by one star at a time back down to a single star. The widest row appears once, so the pattern has
2n − 1 rows.
Every row starts at the left edge, and the stars in a row sit side by side. A row has no spaces anywhere.
Example 1
Input: n = 3
Output:
* ** *** ** *
Explanation: The star counts are 1, 2, 3, 2 and 1. The widest row appears once.
Example 2
Input: n = 1
Output:
*Example 3
Input: n = 5
Output:
* ** *** **** ***** **** *** ** *
Check your understanding
Work out the answer for this input before you write any code.
n = 3
Constraints
1 ≤ n ≤ 100
Clarifying questions
What you would ask an interviewer before writing any code.