Maximum sum with exactly k elements

Array Greedy

80.5% acceptance

Feb 25, 2026

430

You are given a 0-indexed integer array nums and an integer k. Your task is to perform the following operation exactly k times in order to maximize your score: Select an element m from nums. Remove the selected element m from the array. Add a new element with a value of m + 1 to the array. Increase your score by m. Return the maximum score you can achieve after performing the operation exactly k times.

Solution

Rust

Time O(n)

Space O(1)

LeetCode

solution.rs

impl Solution {
  pub fn maximize_sum(nums: Vec<i32>, k: i32) -> i32 {
    let m = *nums.iter().max().unwrap();
    // Pick m, m+1, ..., m+k-1
    // Sum = k*m + k*(k-1)/2
    k * m + k * (k - 1) / 2
  }
}