Code RoomTwo sum closest to target
MediumPrep Room Coding #129

Two sum closest to target

CodingAlgorithms & data structuresMid–Senior~20 min

Given an integer array a (possibly with negatives, length >= 2) and an integer target, pick two distinct elements whose sum is closest to target. Return that sum (the value of the closest sum, not the indices). If two sums are equally close, return either.

Implement
closest_pair_sum(a: list[int], target: int) → int
Examples
in[[1,2,3,4,5],8]out8
What a strong answer looks like

State your approach and its time/space complexity out loud before you optimize. Handle the edge cases (empty input, duplicates, overflow), and say why you chose this over the brute force. Green tests are the floor, not the grade.

0:00 of about 20 min
InputExpectedGot
[[1,2,3,4,5],8]8not run yetsample