Problem Description
Given a circular array nums, find the maximum absolute difference between adjacent elements. Note that in a circular array, the first and last elements are adjacent.
Key Insights
- The array is circular, meaning the last element is adjacent to the first.
- We need to compute the absolute difference between each pair of adjacent elements, including the pair formed by the last and first elements.
- The maximum absolute difference can be derived by iterating through the array and keeping track of the maximum difference encountered.
Space and Time Complexity
Time Complexity: O(n), where n is the length of the array, since we need to iterate through the array once. Space Complexity: O(1), as we are using a constant amount of extra space for variables.
Solution
To solve the problem, we will utilize a simple linear scan approach. We will iterate through the array, calculating the absolute difference between each pair of adjacent elements. We will also account for the circular nature of the array by considering the difference between the last and first elements. We will keep track of the maximum difference found during this iteration.