Largest difference between element with a twist in JavaScript


In this problem statement we have to find the largest difference between elements with a twist with the help of Javascript functionalities. So we will use basic Javascript to get the desired result.

Understanding the problem

The problem at hand is to find the largest difference between two items in an array. So we will add a twist to the problem. So we will not simply find the difference between two items but we will find the largest difference between an item and any smaller item that has appeared before in the array. And we will not rearrange the items in the array because the order matters.

Logic for the given problem

To solve the largest difference with the twist, we will iterate the given array as also we will keep track of the minimum item found so far. When we iterate the array, then we will calculate the difference between the current item and the minimum item. And then update the maximum difference if it is greater than the current maximum value. After doing this process we will be ensured that we have to consider differences between an item and any smaller item that appeared before it.

Algorithm

Step 1: As we have to find the maximum difference between items with a twist so for doing this task we will define a function called differenceWithTwist. And we will pass a parameter as an array.

Step 2: After defining the function we will initialize two variables to track the maximum difference as maxDiff and to store the minimum item encountered so far as minElement. And also we will set the values for these variables. Set maxDiff with a negative infinity value and minElement as the first element of the array.

Step 3: Now we have defined the function and variables. After this we will iterate over the array and start from the second item.

Step 4: In this step we will calculate the difference between the current item and minElement.

Step 5: So we will check the conditions if the computed difference is greater than the maxDiff so we will update the maxDiff with the new value.

Step 6: And if the current item is smaller than the minElement so we will update the minElement with the current item.

Step 7: And we will repeat step 3 to step 5 until all the items have been processed. And then return the maxDiff value to show on the console.

Example

// Function to get the largest difference with twist
function differenceWithTwist(array) {
   let maxDiff = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
   let minElement = array[0];

   for (let i = 1; i < array.length; i++) {
      const difference = array[i] - minElement;

   if (difference > maxDiff) {
         maxDiff = difference;
      }

      if (array[i] < minElement) {
         minElement = array[i];
      }
   }

   return maxDiff;
}

// Usage of the function:
const array = [7, 2, 8, 9, 1, 4, 6];
const largestDifference = differenceWithTwist(array);
console.log("Largest difference with twist:", largestDifference);

Output

Largest difference with twist:7

Complexity

The time complexity for finding the largest difference between the elements with a twist is O(n), here n is the size of the given array. As we iterate over the array only once and perform a constant amount of tasks for every item in the array. So the algorithm is efficient in terms of the time complexity.

Conclusion

So we have completed the given tasks by iterating over the array while keeping track of the minimum element. And we have found the largest difference between an item and any smaller element that appears before it. And the code provides an efficient time complexity for completing the given task.

Updated on: 14-Aug-2023

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