Question

I have an array of positive/negative ints

int[] numbers = new int[10];
numbers[0] = 100;
numbers[1] = -34200;
numbers[2] = 3040;
numbers[3] = 400433;
numbers[4] = 500;
numbers[5] = -100;
numbers[6] = -200;
numbers[7] = 532;
numbers[8] = 6584;
numbers[9] = -945;

Now, I would like to test another int against this array, and return the number that is closest to the int.

For example if I used the number 490 i would get back item #4 from numbers 500 what is the best way to do something like this?

int myNumber = 490;
int distance = 0;
int idx = 0;
for(int c = 0; c < numbers.length; c++){
    int cdistance = numbers[c] - myNumber;
    if(cdistance < distance){
        idx = c;
        distance = cdistance;
    }
}
int theNumber = numbers[idx];

That doesn’t work. Any suggestions on a good method to do this?

Answer 1

int myNumber = 490;
int distance = Math.abs(numbers[0] - myNumber);
int idx = 0;
for(int c = 1; c < numbers.length; c++){
    int cdistance = Math.abs(numbers[c] - myNumber);
    if(cdistance < distance){
        idx = c;
        distance = cdistance;
    }
}
int theNumber = numbers[idx];

Always initialize your min/max functions with the first element you’re considering. Using things like Integer.MAX_VALUE or Integer.MIN_VALUE is a naive way of getting your answer; it doesn’t hold up well if you change datatypes later (whoops, MAX_LONG and MAX_INT are very different!) or if you, in the future, want to write a generic min/max method for any datatype.