Absolute difference between maximum and minimum k elements

Array Sorting

75.4% acceptance

Feb 25, 2026

You are given an integer array nums and an integer k. Find the absolute difference between: the sum of the k largest elements in the array; and the sum of the k smallest elements in the array. Return an integer denoting this difference.

Solution

Rust

Time O(n log n)

Space O(1)

LeetCode

solution.rs

impl Solution {
  pub fn abs_difference(nums: Vec<i32>, k: i32) -> i32 {
    let mut s = nums.clone();
    s.sort();
    let n = s.len();
    let k = k as usize;
    let sum_max: i64 = s[n - k..].iter().map(|&x| x as i64).sum();
    let sum_min: i64 = s[..k].iter().map(|&x| x as i64).sum();
    (sum_max - sum_min).abs() as i32
  }
}