3516. Find Closest Person
Description
You are given three integers x
, y
, and z
, representing the positions of three people on a number line:
x
is the position of Person 1.y
is the position of Person 2.z
is the position of Person 3, who does not move.
Both Person 1 and Person 2 move toward Person 3 at the same speed.
Determine which person reaches Person 3 first:
- Return 1 if Person 1 arrives first.
- Return 2 if Person 2 arrives first.
- Return 0 if both arrive at the same time.
Return the result accordingly.
Example 1:
Input: x = 2, y = 7, z = 4
Output: 1
Explanation:
- Person 1 is at position 2 and can reach Person 3 (at position 4) in 2 steps.
- Person 2 is at position 7 and can reach Person 3 in 3 steps.
Since Person 1 reaches Person 3 first, the output is 1.
Example 2:
Input: x = 2, y = 5, z = 6
Output: 2
Explanation:
- Person 1 is at position 2 and can reach Person 3 (at position 6) in 4 steps.
- Person 2 is at position 5 and can reach Person 3 in 1 step.
Since Person 2 reaches Person 3 first, the output is 2.
Example 3:
Input: x = 1, y = 5, z = 3
Output: 0
Explanation:
- Person 1 is at position 1 and can reach Person 3 (at position 3) in 2 steps.
- Person 2 is at position 5 and can reach Person 3 in 2 steps.
Since both Person 1 and Person 2 reach Person 3 at the same time, the output is 0.
Constraints:
1 <= x, y, z <= 100
Solutions
Solution 1: Mathematics
We calculate the distance $a$ between the 1st person and the 3rd person, and the distance $b$ between the 2nd person and the 3rd person.
If $a = b$, it means both people arrive at the same time, return $0$;
If $a \lt b$, it means the 1st person will arrive first, return $1$;
Otherwise, it means the 2nd person will arrive first, return $2$.
The time complexity is $O(1)$, and the space complexity is $O(1)$.
Python3
class Solution:
def findClosest(self, x: int, y: int, z: int) -> int:
a = abs(x - z)
b = abs(y - z)
return 0 if a == b else (1 if a < b else 2)
Java
class Solution {
public int findClosest(int x, int y, int z) {
int a = Math.abs(x - z);
int b = Math.abs(y - z);
return a == b ? 0 : (a < b ? 1 : 2);
}
}
C++
class Solution {
public:
int findClosest(int x, int y, int z) {
int a = abs(x - z);
int b = abs(y - z);
return a == b ? 0 : (a < b ? 1 : 2);
}
};
Go
func findClosest(x int, y int, z int) int {
a, b := abs(x-z), abs(y-z)
if a == b {
return 0
}
if a < b {
return 1
}
return 2
}
func abs(x int) int {
if x < 0 {
return -x
}
return x
}
TypeScript
function findClosest(x: number, y: number, z: number): number {
const a = Math.abs(x - z);
const b = Math.abs(y - z);
return a === b ? 0 : a < b ? 1 : 2;
}