Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History

magnetic-force-between-two-balls

Folders and files

NameName
Last commit message
Last commit date

parent directory

..
 
 

< Previous                  Next >

In the universe Earth C-137, Rick discovered a special form of magnetic force between two balls if they are put in his new invented basket. Rick has n empty baskets, the ith basket is at position[i], Morty has m balls and needs to distribute the balls into the baskets such that the minimum magnetic force between any two balls is maximum.

Rick stated that magnetic force between two different balls at positions x and y is |x - y|.

Given the integer array position and the integer m. Return the required force.

 

Example 1:

Input: position = [1,2,3,4,7], m = 3
Output: 3
Explanation: Distributing the 3 balls into baskets 1, 4 and 7 will make the magnetic force between ball pairs [3, 3, 6]. The minimum magnetic force is 3. We cannot achieve a larger minimum magnetic force than 3.

Example 2:

Input: position = [5,4,3,2,1,1000000000], m = 2
Output: 999999999
Explanation: We can use baskets 1 and 1000000000.

 

Constraints:

  • n == position.length
  • 2 <= n <= 105
  • 1 <= position[i] <= 109
  • All integers in position are distinct.
  • 2 <= m <= position.length

Related Topics

[Array] [Binary Search] [Sorting]

Similar Questions

  1. Minimized Maximum of Products Distributed to Any Store (Medium)

Hints

Hint 1 If you can place balls such that the answer is x then you can do it for y where y < x.
Hint 2 Similarly if you cannot place balls such that the answer is x then you can do it for y where y > x.
Hint 3 Binary search on the answer and greedily see if it is possible.