Find Minimum Distance Between Two Numbers in an Array

Problem Statement

In the given unsorted array, which may also contain duplicates, find the minimum distance between two different numbers in an array.

Distance between 2 numbers in an array: the absolute difference between the indices +1.

Example

Input

12

3 5 4 2 6 5 6 6 5 4 8 3

3 6

Output

4

Approach 1

1. Use two loops, one loop finds any one of the elements and the second loop finds the other element in the same way.
2. Subtract the indices we get the distance between them.
3. Do this until we get the minimum distance.

Implementation

C++ Program for Find Minimum Distance Between Two Numbers in an Array

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    int n;
    cin>>n;
    int arr[n];
    for(int i=0;i<n;i++)
    {
        cin>>arr[i];
    }
    int X , Y;
    cin>>X>>Y; //the elements between which minimum distance is to be found
    int min_dist = INT_MAX;
    for(int i=0; i<n; i++) //select one element
    {  
      for(int j=i+1; j<n; j++) //traverse ahead
      {
        if(arr[i] == X and arr[j] == Y) // if we get X and Y we try to update the minimum distance
        min_dist = min(min_dist , abs(i-j));
        if(arr[i] == Y and arr[j] == X)
        min_dist = min(min_dist , abs(i-j));          
      }
    }
    cout<<min_dist;
  return 0;
}

import static java.lang.Math.min;
import java.util.Scanner;

class sum
{
    public static int abs(int x)
    {
        if(x<0)
            x=x*-1;
        return x;
    }
    public static void main(String[] args)  
    { 
        Scanner sr = new Scanner(System.in);
        int n = sr.nextInt();
        int arr[] = new int[n];
        for(int i=0;i<n;i++)
        {
            arr[i] = sr.nextInt();
        }
        int X = sr.nextInt(); int Y = sr.nextInt(); //the elements between which minimum distance is to be found
        int min_dist = 10000000;
        for(int i=0; i<n; i++) //select one element
        {  
          for(int j=i+1; j<n; j++) //traverse ahead
          {
            if(arr[i] == X && arr[j] == Y) // if we get X and Y we try to update the minimum distance
            min_dist = min(min_dist , abs(i-j));
            if(arr[i] == Y && arr[j] == X)
            min_dist = min(min_dist , abs(i-j));          
          }
        }
        System.out.println(min_dist);
    }
}

12
3 5 4 2 6 5 6 6 5 4 8 3
3 6

4

Algorithm 2

Step 1: Let i, j be the position where X and Y are there.

1. Initialize i,j with 0.

Step 2: Run a loop such that i and j are less than size of array. If we get any one of the element we simply loop till we get another element.

1. Let the size of the array be N, we got X at j then we loop from j to N.

Step 3: We now update the minimum distance after finding the second element by the difference between the indices.

1. Update i to j (i = j).
2. because, we need start traversing again from where we found the second element.
3. In order to find the other pair as given until we get the minimum distance between them.
4. So, every time we update the minimum distance by comparing it with the new distance until we traverse the entire array.

Step 4: we print the minimum distance finally

Implementation

C++ Program for Find Minimum Distance Between Two Numbers in an Array

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
  int N;
    cin>>N;
    int arr[N];
    for(int i=0;i<N;i++)
    {
        cin>>arr[i];
    }  
  int X , Y;
  cin>>X>>Y; //the elements between which minimum distance is to be found
  int min_dist = INT_MAX;
  int i = 0, j = 0; //i and j to point at X and Y present somewhere in the array
  while(i < N and j < N)
  {
    if(arr[i] == X) //if we get X
      {
        while( j < N and arr[j] != Y) // we simply loop till we get Y
          j++;  
        if(j < N and arr[j] == Y)
        min_dist = min(min_dist,abs(i-j));//we update the minimum distance if required
        
        i = j; // important step because as we got X,Y pair we can stand at present position and loop forward for another pair
      }
    else if(arr[i] == Y)
    {
        while( j < N and arr[j] != X)
          j++;
          
        if(j < N and arr[j] == X)
        min_dist = min(min_dist,abs(i-j));
      i = j;
    }
    else
     i++;
  }
  cout<<min_dist;
  return 0;
}

import static java.lang.Math.min;
import java.util.Scanner;

class sum
{
    public static int abs(int x)
    {
        if(x<0)
            x=x*-1;
        return x;
    }
    public static void main(String[] args)  
    { 
        Scanner sr = new Scanner(System.in);
        int n = sr.nextInt();
        int arr[] = new int[n];
        for(int i=0;i<n;i++)
        {
            arr[i] = sr.nextInt();
        }
        int X = sr.nextInt(); int Y = sr.nextInt(); //the elements between which minimum distance is to be found
        int min_dist = 10000000;
        int i = 0, j = 0; //i and j to point at X and Y present somewhere in the array
        while(i < n && j < n)
        {
          if(arr[i] == X) //if we get X
            {
              while( j < n && arr[j] != Y) // we simply loop till we get Y
                j++;  
              if(j < n && arr[j] == Y)
              min_dist = min(min_dist,abs(i-j));//we update the minimum distance if required
              i = j; // important step because as we got X,Y pair we can stand at present position and loop forward for another pair
            }
          else if(arr[i] == Y)
          {
              while( j < n && arr[j] != X)
                j++;

              if(j < n && arr[j] == X)
              min_dist = min(min_dist,abs(i-j));
            i = j;
          }
          else
           i++;
        }
        System.out.println(min_dist);
    }
}

6
3 5 4 2 5 5 
3 5

1