#849
Medium Algorithms Maximize distance to closest person
Array
49.6% acceptance
Feb 22, 2026
3331
202
You are given an array representing a row of seats where seats[i] = 1 represents a person sitting in the ith seat, and seats[i] = 0 represents that the ith seat is empty (0-indexed).
There is at least one empty seat, and at least one person sitting.
Alex wants to sit in the seat such that the distance between him and the closest person to him is maximized.
Return that maximum distance to the closest person.
Solution
Rust
Time O(n)
Space O(1)
/*
* You are given an array representing a row of seats where seats[i] = 1 represents a person sitting in the ith seat, and seats[i] = 0 represents that the ith seat is empty (0-indexed).
* There is at least one empty seat, and at least one person sitting.
* Alex wants to sit in the seat such that the distance between him and the closest person to him is maximized.
* Return that maximum distance to the closest person.
* Example 1:
* Input: seats = [1,0,0,0,1,0,1]
* Output: 2
* Explanation:
* If Alex sits in the second open seat (i.e. seats[2]), then the closest person has distance 2.
* If Alex sits in any other open seat, the closest person has distance 1.
* Thus, the maximum distance to the closest person is 2.
* Example 2:
* Input: seats = [1,0,0,0]
* Output: 3
* Explanation:
* If Alex sits in the last seat (i.e. seats[3]), the closest person is 3 seats away.
* This is the maximum distance possible, so the answer is 3.
* Example 3:
* Input: seats = [0,1]
* Output: 1
* Constraints:
* 2 <= seats.length <= 2 * 104
* seats[i] is 0 or 1.
* At least one seat is empty.
* At least one seat is occupied.
*/
impl Solution {
pub fn max_dist_to_closest(seats: Vec<i32>) -> i32 {
let n = seats.len();
let mut ans = 0;
let mut last = -1i32;
for i in 0..n {
if seats[i] == 1 {
if last == -1 {
// From start to this seat
ans = ans.max(i as i32);
} else {
ans = ans.max((i as i32 - last) / 2);
}
last = i as i32;
}
}
// After last seat
if last != n as i32 - 1 {
ans = ans.max(n as i32 - 1 - last);
}
ans
}
}