360. Sort Transformed Array

Given a sorted array of integers nums and integer values a, b and c. Apply a quadratic function of the form f(x) = ax2 + bx + c to each element x in the array.

The returned array must be in sorted order.

Expected time complexity: O(n)

Example 1:

Input: nums = [-4,-2,2,4], a = 1, b = 3, c = 5
Output: [3,9,15,33]

Example 2:

Input: nums = [-4,-2,2,4], a = -1, b = 3, c = 5
Output: [-23,-5,1,7]

方法1: two pointers

思路：

首先判断抛物线的开口向上还是向下，然后用双指针从左右开始，取较大/较小的数字推结果。最后根据a的负号调整result顺序。

class Solution {
public:
    vector<int> sortTransformedArray(vector<int>& nums, int a, int b, int c) {
        int left = 0, right = nums.size() - 1;
        vector<int> result;
        while (left <= right) {
            if (a >= 0) {
                if (calculate(nums[left], a, b, c) >= calculate(nums[right], a, b, c)) {
                    result.push_back(calculate(nums[left++], a, b, c));
                } else {
                    result.push_back(calculate(nums[right--], a, b, c));
                }
            }
            else {
                if (calculate(nums[left], a, b, c) <= calculate(nums[right], a, b, c)) {
                    result.push_back(calculate(nums[left++], a, b, c));
                } else {
                    result.push_back(calculate(nums[right--], a, b, c));
                }
            }
        }
        if (a >= 0) reverse(result.begin(), result.end());
        return result;
    }
    
    int calculate(int x, int a, int b, int c){
        return a * x * x + b * x + c;
    }
};