Smallest absent positive greater than average

Array Hash Table

34.1% acceptance

Feb 25, 2026

You are given an integer array nums. Return the smallest absent positive integer in nums such that it is strictly greater than the average of all elements in nums. The average of an array is defined as the sum of all its elements divided by the number of elements.

Solution

Rust

Time O(n)

Space O(1)

LeetCode

solution.rs

impl Solution {
  pub fn smallest_absent(nums: Vec<i32>) -> i32 {
    let n = nums.len() as f64;
    let avg = nums.iter().sum::<i32>() as f64 / n;
    let start = (avg.floor() as i32) + 1;
    let set: std::collections::HashSet<i32> = nums.into_iter().collect();
    let mut x = start.max(1);
    loop {
      if !set.contains(&x) { return x; }
      x += 1;
    }
  }
}