628. Maximum Product of Three Numbers

Given an integer array, find three numbers whose product is maximum and output the maximum product.

Example 1:

Input: [1,2,3]
Output: 6

Example 2:

Input: [1,2,3,4]
Output: 24

Note:

1. The length of the given array will be in range [3,104] and all elements are in the range [-1000, 1000].
2. Multiplication of any three numbers in the input won’t exceed the range of 32-bit signed integer.

方法1: single scan

思路：

用找2nd large的方法来找3个极值。由于负数的存在，在记录3个最大值的同时还要记录两个最小值。因为当有两个值是负数的时候，两个最小的负数product可能超过max2 and max3。

class Solution {
public:
    int maximumProduct(vector<int>& nums) {
        if (nums.size() < 3) return 0;
        int max1 = -1001, max2 = max1, max3 = max2;
        int min1 = 1001, min2 = 1001;
        for (int num: nums) {
            if (num > max1) {
                max3 = max2;
                max2 = max1;
                max1 = num;
            }
            else if (num > max2) {
                max3 = max2;
                max2 = num;
            }
            else if (num > max3) {
                max3 = num;
            }
            
            if (num < min1) {
                min2 = min1;
                min1 = num;
            }
            else if (num < min2){
                min2 = num;
            }
        }
        return max(max1 * max2 * max3, min1 * min2 * max1);
    }
};