1685. Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array LeetCode Solution
In this guide, you will get 1685. Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array LeetCode Solution with the best time and space complexity. The solution to Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array problem is provided in various programming languages like C++, Java, and Python. This will be helpful for you if you are preparing for placements, hackathons, interviews, or practice purposes. The solutions provided here are very easy to follow and include detailed explanations.
Table of Contents
- Problem Statement
- Complexity Analysis
- Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array solution in C++
- Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array solution in Java
- Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array solution in Python
- Additional Resources

Problem Statement of Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array
You are given an integer array nums sorted in non-decreasing order.
Build and return an integer array result with the same length as nums such that result[i] is equal to the summation of absolute differences between nums[i] and all the other elements in the array.
In other words, result[i] is equal to sum(|nums[i]-nums[j]|) where 0 <= j < nums.length and j != i (0-indexed).
Example 1:
Input: nums = [2,3,5]
Output: [4,3,5]
Explanation: Assuming the arrays are 0-indexed, then
result[0] = |2-2| + |2-3| + |2-5| = 0 + 1 + 3 = 4,
result[1] = |3-2| + |3-3| + |3-5| = 1 + 0 + 2 = 3,
result[2] = |5-2| + |5-3| + |5-5| = 3 + 2 + 0 = 5.
Example 2:
Input: nums = [1,4,6,8,10]
Output: [24,15,13,15,21]
Constraints:
2 <= nums.length <= 105
1 <= nums[i] <= nums[i + 1] <= 104
Complexity Analysis
- Time Complexity: O(n)
- Space Complexity: O(n)
1685. Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array LeetCode Solution in C++
class Solution {
public:
vector<int> getSumAbsoluteDifferences(vector<int>& nums) {
const int n = nums.size();
vector<int> ans;
// prefix[i] := sum(nums[0..i])
vector<int> prefix(n);
// suffix[i] := sum(nums[i..n - 1])
vector<int> suffix(n);
prefix[0] = nums[0];
for (int i = 1; i < n; ++i)
prefix[i] = prefix[i - 1] + nums[i];
suffix[n - 1] = nums[n - 1];
for (int i = n - 2; i >= 0; --i)
suffix[i] = suffix[i + 1] + nums[i];
for (int i = 0; i < nums.size(); ++i) {
const int left = nums[i] * (i + 1) - prefix[i];
const int right = suffix[i] - nums[i] * (n - i);
ans.push_back(left + right);
}
return ans;
}
};
/* code provided by PROGIEZ */
1685. Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array LeetCode Solution in Java
class Solution {
public int[] getSumAbsoluteDifferences(int[] nums) {
final int n = nums.length;
int[] ans = new int[n];
int[] prefix = new int[n];
int[] suffix = new int[n];
prefix[0] = nums[0];
for (int i = 1; i < n; ++i)
prefix[i] = prefix[i - 1] + nums[i];
suffix[n - 1] = nums[n - 1];
for (int i = n - 2; i >= 0; --i)
suffix[i] = suffix[i + 1] + nums[i];
for (int i = 0; i < nums.length; ++i) {
final int left = nums[i] * (i + 1) - prefix[i];
final int right = suffix[i] - nums[i] * (n - i);
ans[i] = left + right;
}
return ans;
}
}
// code provided by PROGIEZ
1685. Sum of Absolute Differences in a Sorted Array LeetCode Solution in Python
class Solution:
def getSumAbsoluteDifferences(self, nums: list[int]) -> list[int]:
prefix = list(itertools.accumulate(nums))
suffix = list(itertools.accumulate(nums[::-1]))[::-1]
return [num * (i + 1) - prefix[i] + suffix[i] - num * (len(nums) - i)
for i, num in enumerate(nums)]
# code by PROGIEZ
Additional Resources
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- Explore all problems on LeetCode website here
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