Find Closest Number to Zero - Practice Coding Problems

Find Closest Number to Zero - Problem

Array Easy

Given an integer array nums of size n, return the number with the value closest to 0 in nums.

If there are multiple answers, return the number with the largest value.

Input & Output

Example 1 — Basic Case

$ Input: nums = [-4,-2,1,4,8]

› Output: 1

💡 Note: The distances are: |-4| = 4, |-2| = 2, |1| = 1, |4| = 4, |8| = 8. The closest to zero is 1.

Example 2 — Tie Breaking

$ Input: nums = [2,-1,1]

› Output: 1

💡 Note: Both -1 and 1 have distance 1 from zero. We return 1 since it's the larger value.

Example 3 — Single Element

$ Input: nums = [5]

› Output: 5

💡 Note: Only one element, so 5 is the closest to zero.

Constraints

1 ≤ nums.length ≤ 1000
-10⁵ ≤ nums[i] ≤ 10⁵

Visualization

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Understanding the Visualization

Input

Array of integers with positive and negative values

Process

Calculate absolute distance to zero for each number

Output

Return number with minimum distance (prefer positive for ties)

Key Takeaway

🎯 Key Insight: Compare absolute distances efficiently while handling tie-breaking in favor of positive values

Asked in

G Google 32 M Microsoft 28 A Amazon 25 🍎 Apple 18

The key insight is to track the closest value while handling tie-breaking by preferring positive numbers. Best approach uses single pass comparison: Time O(n), Space O(1).

Common Approaches

Approach	Time	Space	Notes
✓ Brute Force - Calculate All Distances	O(n)	O(1)	Calculate absolute distance to zero for every element and find the closest
Single Pass Optimized	O(n)	O(1)	Track closest value in one pass, handling tie-breaking efficiently

Brute Force - Calculate All Distances — Algorithm Steps

Initialize closest as first element
For each number, calculate absolute distance to zero
Update closest if current distance is smaller, or same distance but larger value

Visualization

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Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Initialize

Start with first element as closest

Compare

Calculate distance for each element

Update

Keep closest value, prefer positive for ties

Code -

solution.c — C

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int solution(int* nums, int numsSize) {
    int closest = nums[0];
    int minDistance = abs(nums[0]);
    
    for (int i = 0; i < numsSize; i++) {
        int distance = abs(nums[i]);
        if (distance < minDistance || (distance == minDistance && nums[i] > closest)) {
            closest = nums[i];
            minDistance = distance;
        }
    }
    
    return closest;
}

int main() {
    char line[10000];
    fgets(line, sizeof(line), stdin);
    
    int nums[1000];
    int count = 0;
    char* token = strtok(line, "[],\n ");
    while (token != NULL) {
        nums[count++] = atoi(token);
        token = strtok(NULL, "[],\n ");
    }
    
    int result = solution(nums, count);
    printf("%d\n", result);
    
    return 0;
}

Time & Space Complexity

Time Complexity

⏱️

O(n)

Single loop through all n elements

✓ Linear Growth

Space Complexity

O(1)

Only using variables for tracking closest value and distance

✓ Linear Space

28.5K Views

Medium Frequency

~15 min Avg. Time

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Smart Actions

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Input & Output

Constraints

Visualization

Related Problems

Common Approaches

Brute Force - Calculate All Distances — Algorithm Steps

Visualization

Code -

Time & Space Complexity

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