LeetCode-in-Java
1984. Minimum Difference Between Highest and Lowest of K Scores
Easy
You are given a 0-indexed integer array nums, where nums[i] represents the score of the ith student. You are also given an integer k.
Pick the scores of any k students from the array so that the difference between the highest and the lowest of the k scores is minimized.
Return the minimum possible difference.
Example 1:
Input: nums = [90], k = 1
Output: 0
Explanation: There is one way to pick score(s) of one student:
- [90]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 90 - 90 = 0.
The minimum possible difference is 0.
Example 2:
Input: nums = [9,4,1,7], k = 2
Output: 2
Explanation: There are six ways to pick score(s) of two students:
-
[9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 9 - 4 = 5.
-
[9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 9 - 1 = 8.
-
[9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 9 - 7 = 2.
-
[9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 4 - 1 = 3.
-
[9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 7 - 4 = 3.
-
[9,4,1,7]. The difference between the highest and lowest score is 7 - 1 = 6.
The minimum possible difference is 2.
Constraints:
1 <= k <= nums.length <= 10000 <= nums[i] <= 105
Solution
import java.util.Arrays;
public class Solution {
public int minimumDifference(int[] nums, int k) {
Arrays.sort(nums);
int minDiff = nums[nums.length - 1];
for (int i = 0; i <= nums.length - k; i++) {
minDiff = Math.min(minDiff, nums[i + k - 1] - nums[i]);
}
return minDiff;
}
}