Find K-th Smallest Pair Distance — LeetCode 719 Python Solution

The problem

The distance of a pair of integers a and b is defined as the absolute difference between a and b. Given an integer array nums and an integer k, return the kth smallest distance among all the pairs nums[i] and nums[j] where 0 <= i < j < nums.length.

Example

Input

nums = [1,3,1], k = 1

Output

0

Explanation

Here are all the pairs:

Python solution

class Solution:
    def smallestDistancePair(self, nums: List[int], k: int) -> int:
        def count(dist):
            cnt = 0
            for i, b in enumerate(nums):
                a = b - dist
                j = bisect_left(nums, a, 0, i)
                cnt += i - j
            return cnt

        nums.sort()
        return bisect_left(range(nums[-1] - nums[0]), k, key=count)

Complexity

Pattern: Two Pointers

Use the order already in the input to discard half the search space at every step. LeetCode 719. Find K-th Smallest Pair Distance is filed here on both counts: the reference solution below belongs to the algorithm family this hub collects, and LeetCode tags it Two Pointers.

The two pointers guide has the Python template for the pattern and the 201 LeetCode problems that use it.

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