CodingHardcod-g563

Subject Binary searchLevel Senior–Staff~30 minCommon in Algorithms & data structures interviewsIndustries Software development

Question

Given an integer array nums, define the distance of a pair (i, j) as abs(nums[i] - nums[j]). Return the k-th smallest distance among all n*(n-1)/2 pairs (1-indexed). 2 <= len(nums) <= 1e4 so enumerating all pairs is too slow.

Implement

smallest_distance_pair(nums: list[int], k: int) → int

Examples

in[[1,3,1],1]out0

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.

Learn the concepts

Vibe coding: describe the solution in plain language (or narrate it) and the coach grades your approach. Generating runnable code from your description is coming next.

Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.