Maximize Distance to Closest Person

Author: saurabhchris1

Maximize_Distance_to_Closest_Person.py

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# In a row of seats, 1 represents a person sitting in that seat, and 0 represents that the seat is empty.
+#
+# 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 closest person.
+#
+# Example 1:
+#
+# Input: [1,0,0,0,1,0,1]
+# Output: 2
+# Explanation:
+# If Alex sits in the second open seat (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: [1,0,0,0]
+# Output: 3
+# Explanation:
+# If Alex sits in the last seat, the closest person is 3 seats away.
+# This is the maximum distance possible, so the answer is 3.
+
+
+class Solution:
+    def maxDistToClosest(self, seats):
+        dist = 0
+        while dist < len(seats) and seats[dist] == 0:
+            dist += 1
+        zero = 0
+
+        for i in range(dist + 1, len(seats)):
+            if seats[i] == 0:
+                zero += 1
+            else:
+                dist = max(dist, (zero + 1) // 2)
+                zero = 0
+
+        return max(dist, zero)