Given an array S of n integers, find three integers in S such that the sum is closest to a given number, target. Return the sum of the three integers. You may assume that each input would have exactly one solution.
For example, given array S = {-1 2 1 -4}, and target = 1. The sum that is closest to the target is 2. (-1 + 2 + 1 = 2).
Solution:
Tips:
sort array first, then fix a number from two sides to the middle to calculate the gap between three sum and target number.
Java Code:
public class Solution {
public int threeSumClosest(int[] nums, int target) {
// assume input is validate, omit code here
//if (nums == null || nums.length < 3) {
// return 0;
//}
Arrays.sort(nums);
int minVal = nums[0] + nums[1] + nums[2];
int minGap = Math.abs(minVal - target);
for (int i = 0; i < nums.length - 2; i++) {
int left = i + 1;
int right = nums.length - 1;
while (left < right) {
int sum = nums[i] + nums[left] + nums[right];
if (sum == target) {
return target;
}
if (sum > target) {
right--;
} else {
left++;
}
if (Math.abs(sum - target) < minGap) {
minVal = sum;
minGap = Math.abs(sum - target);
}
}
}
return minVal;
}
}