Minimum difference in an array - c++

Question

I want to find the minimum difference among all elements of an array. I read through various other questions, but couldn't find the exact source of the error in the following code.
#include<iostream>
#include<stdio.h>
#include<cstdlib>
using namespace std;
void quicksort(long int *lp, long int *rp);
int main()
{
int t,n;
long int s[5000];
cin>>t;
while(t--){
cin>>n;
for(int i=0;i<n;i++) cin>>s[i];
quicksort(&s[0],&s[n-1]);
//cout<<"passes:"<<passes<<endl;
//for(int i=0;i<n;i++) cout<<s[i]<<" ";
long int min = abs(s[1]-s[0]);
//cout<<endl<<min;
for(int i=1;i<(n-1);i++){
long int temp = abs(s[i]-s[i+1]);
if (temp <= min) min = temp;
}
cout<<min;
}
}
void quicksort(long int *lp,long int *rp){
int arraysize= (rp-lp)+1;
if(arraysize > 1){
long int *pivot = (lp+(arraysize/2));
long int swap=0;
long int *orgl = lp;
long int *orgr = rp;
while(lp!=rp){
while (*lp < *pivot) lp++;
while (*rp > *pivot) rp--;
if (lp == pivot) pivot=rp;
else if (rp == pivot) pivot=lp;
swap = *lp;
*lp = *rp;
*rp = swap;
if((*lp == *pivot) || ( *rp == *pivot)) break;
}
quicksort(orgl,pivot-1);
quicksort(pivot+1,orgr);
}
}
The problem statement is given in this link : http://www.codechef.com/problems/HORSES
Can you please identify the error in my program ?

Answer 1

You are using C++ so instead of using your custom quicksort which is not really guarantee O(n*logn) you better use sort from <algorithm>.
This logic looks good:
long int min = abs(s[1]-s[0]);
//cout<<endl<<min;
for(int i=1;i<(n-1);i++){
long int temp = abs(s[i]-s[i+1]);
if (temp <= min) min = temp;
}
By the way:
cout<<min;
Add cout<<min << endl;

Answer 2

The line
if((*lp == *pivot) || ( *rp == *pivot)) break;
is wrong. Consider
5 4 7 5 2 5
^
pivot
Oops.
This line
long int temp = abs(s[i]-s[i+1]);
is unnecessarily complex. Since the array is (supposedly) sorted,
long int temp = s[i+1] - s[i];
does the same without calling abs.

Answer 3

sort(s, s + n); // #include <algorithm> O(n*log n)
Otherwise sort/find minimum algorithm is correct. There are O(n) algorithms based on randomization, bucket sort.
#include <algorithm> // sort()
#include <iostream>
int main() {
using namespace std;
int ntests, n;
const int maxn = 5000; // http://www.codechef.com/problems/HORSES
int s[maxn];
cin >> ntests; // read number of tests
while (ntests--) {
cin >> n; // read number of integers
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) cin >> s[i]; // read input array
sort(s, s + n); // sort O(n*log n)
// find minimal difference O(n)
int mindiff = s[1] - s[0]; // minn = 2
for (int i = 2; i < n; ++i) {
int diff = s[i] - s[i-1];
if (diff < mindiff) mindiff = diff;
}
cout << mindiff << endl;
}
}

Answer 4

#include <iostream> using namespace std;
int main() {
int a[] = {1,5,2,3,6,9};
int c=0;
int n = sizeof(a)/sizeof(a[0]);
for(int i=0;i<n-1;i++){
for(int j=i+1;j<n;j++){
cout<<a[i]<<" - "<<a[j]<<" = "<<a[i]-a[j]<<endl;
if(abs(a[i]-a[j]) == 2)
c++;
}
}
cout<<c<<endl;
return 0; }