LeetCode - Beautiful Arrangement II

Question Definition

Given two integers n and k, you need to construct a list which contains n different positive integers ranging from 1 to n and obeys the following requirement: Suppose this list is [a1, a2, a3, ... , an], then the list [|a1 - a2|, |a2 - a3|, |a3 - a4|, ... , |an-1 - an|] has exactly k distinct integers.

If there are multiple answers, print any of them.

Example 1:

Input: n = 3, k = 1
Output: [1, 2, 3]
Explanation: The [1, 2, 3] has three different positive integers ranging from 1 to 3, and the [1, 1] has exactly 1 distinct integer: 1.

Example 2:

Input: n = 3, k = 2
Output: [1, 3, 2]
Explanation: The [1, 3, 2] has three different positive integers ranging from 1 to 3, and the [2, 1] has exactly 2 distinct integers: 1 and 2.

Note:

1. The n and k are in the range 1 <= k < n <= 104.

   Best Java Solution

   public int[] constructArray(int n, int k) {
    int[] res = new int[n];
    int i = 1, j = n, index = 0;
    while (i <= j) {
        if (k > 1) res[index++] = (k-- % 2 != 0 ? i++ : j--);
        else res[index++] = i++;
    }
    return res;
   }