[LeetCode 16] 3Sum Closet

 Given an array nums of n integers and an integer target, find three integers in nums such that the sum is closest to target. Return the sum of the three integers. You may assume that each input would have exactly one solution.

Example:

Given array nums = [-1, 2, 1, -4], and target = 1.

The sum that is closest to the target is 2. (-1 + 2 + 1 = 2).

分析 

该题是3Sum题目的延伸。我们先回顾一下3Sum的解法，3Sum是需要找到所有的总和等于0的3个数字的集合(a + b + c = 0)。解法是将在nums中找到所有总和等于-c的2个数字的集合（a+ b = -c）。

本地的目的是找到距离target最近的3个数字之和，即abs(a + b + c - target)最小的值。

首先对数组排序，使用k遍历数组，在 [k+1, nums.size())中寻找 abs(a + b - (target -c))的最小值即可。

 

Code

class Solution {
public:
    int threeSumClosest(vector<int>& nums, int target) {
        int distance = INT_MAX;
        int res = 0;
        
        sort(nums.begin(), nums.end());
        for (int k = 0; k < nums.size() - 2; k ++)
        {
            int tmpTarget = target - nums[k];
            int minDistance = INT_MAX;
            int tmpRes = 0;
            int i = k + 1;
            int j = nums.size()-1; 
            while (i < j)
            {
                if (nums[i] + nums[j] == tmpTarget)
                {
                    return target;
                }
                if (abs(nums[i] + nums[j] - tmpTarget) < minDistance)
                {
                    minDistance = abs(nums[i] + nums[j] - tmpTarget);
                    tmpRes = nums[i] + nums[j] + nums[k];
                }
                if (nums[i] + nums[j] > tmpTarget)
                {
                    j --;
                    continue;
                }
                else if (nums[i] + nums[j] < tmpTarget)
                {
                    i ++;
                    continue;
                }
            }
            if (minDistance < distance)
            {
                distance = minDistance;
                res = tmpRes;
            }
        }
        return res;
    }
};

运行效率

Runtime: 16 ms, faster than 39.96% of C++ online submissions for 3Sum Closest.

Memory Usage: 9.4 MB, less than 46.24% of C++ online submissions for3Sum Closest.  

从执行效率来看，本解法的耗时偏大，但是看了一下discussion中的最快解法，采用的方式与本解法类似，因此时间复杂度在同一个量级上。