LeetCode Medium Challenge Day 29 | minimum Distance in Arrays

Maximum Distance in Arrays - LeetCode Problem

Problem Statement:

You are given n arrays, each containing m integers sorted in non-decreasing order. The task is to find the maximum distance between any two elements where one element is taken from one array, and the other is taken from a different array. The distance between two elements a and b is defined as |a - b|.

Explanation:

The problem requires finding the maximum possible distance between elements from different arrays. The key observation is that to maximize the distance, we should consider the minimum element from one array and the maximum element from another array.

Here's a breakdown of the solution:

1. Initialization:
2. Iterating Through the Arrays:
3. Return the Result:

This approach ensures an efficient solution with a time complexity of O(n), where n is the number of arrays.

Code:

public class Solution {
    public int maxDistance(List<List<Integer>> arrays) {
        int maxDistance = 0;
        int minValue = arrays.get(0).get(0);
        int maxValue = arrays.get(0).get(arrays.get(0).size() - 1);

        for (int i = 1; i < arrays.size(); i++) {
            List<Integer> currentArray = arrays.get(i);
            int currentMin = currentArray.get(0);
            int currentMax = currentArray.get(currentArray.size() - 1);

            maxDistance = Math.max(maxDistance, Math.abs(currentMax - minValue));
            maxDistance = Math.max(maxDistance, Math.abs(maxValue - currentMin));

            minValue = Math.min(minValue, currentMin);
            maxValue = Math.max(maxValue, currentMax);
        }

        return maxDistance;
    }
}