Link:
Type: Array
Difficulty: Medium

How to think of the problem

Two pointer solution.
You're always tracking the left and right pointers to figure out which is the minimum, then multiplying by the area

Solution

class Solution(object):
    def maxArea(self, height):
        """
        :type height: List[int]
        :rtype: int
        """
        #iterate through the array
        #left and right pointers, l=0, r=len(height)- 1
        #max = left * right, then max=max(left*right)
        #move the smaller of the difference between them ie l=8, l-l+1 = 1, r=7 r-(r-1) = 3 
        #calculate max

        l,r = 0, len(height)-1
        maxWater = 0
        while l<r:
            minheight = min(height[l],height[r])
            maxWater = max(maxWater,(minheight*(r-l)))
            if height[l] < height[r]:
                l += 1
            else:
                r -=1
        return maxWater