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Solution: Find K Closest Elements

Explore how to find the k closest elements to a target value in a sorted array by applying modified binary search and a sliding window approach. Understand the trade-offs between a naive sorting method and an optimized algorithm that uses binary search to find the closest element, then expands the window using two pointers. This lesson helps you implement an efficient solution with time complexity O(log n + k) and space complexity O(1), suitable for coding interviews and real-world problems.

Statement

You are given a sorted array of integers, nums, and two integers, target and k. Your task is to return k number of integers that are close to the target value, target. The integers in the output array should be in a sorted order.

An integer, nums[i], is considered to be closer to target, as compared to nums[j] when |nums[i] - target| << |nums[j] - target|. However, when |nums[i] - target| == |nums[j] - target|, the smaller of the two values is selected.

Constraints:

  • 11 \leq k \leq nums.length
  • 11 \leq nums.length 103\leq 10^3
  • nums is sorted in ascending order.
  • 104-10^4 \leq nums[i], target 104\leq 10^4
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