#2740

Find the Value of the Partition

medium · verified · 64.8% accepted · 324 likes · top 68%

array · sorting

⊣ practice⊣ open on leetcode ↗

Description

You are given a positive integer array nums.

Partition nums into two arrays, nums1 and nums2, such that:

 - Each element of the array nums belongs to either the array nums1 or the array nums2.

 - Both arrays are non-empty.

 - The value of the partition is minimized.

The value of the partition is |max(nums1) - min(nums2)|.

Here, max(nums1) denotes the maximum element of the array nums1, and min(nums2) denotes the minimum element of the array nums2.

Return the integer denoting the value of such partition.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,3,2,4]
Output: 1
Explanation: We can partition the array nums into nums1 = [1,2] and nums2 = [3,4].
- The maximum element of the array nums1 is equal to 2.
- The minimum element of the array nums2 is equal to 3.
The value of the partition is |2 - 3| = 1.
It can be proven that 1 is the minimum value out of all partitions.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [100,1,10]
Output: 9
Explanation: We can partition the array nums into nums1 = [10] and nums2 = [100,1].
- The maximum element of the array nums1 is equal to 10.
- The minimum element of the array nums2 is equal to 1.
The value of the partition is |10 - 1| = 9.
It can be proven that 9 is the minimum value out of all partitions.

Solution