Daily Problem | C++ ✅ | Java ✅ | Sorting ✅
Intuition\r\n Describe your first thoughts on how to solve this problem. \r\nFor this problem we need to find the maximum and second maximum values in the array
# Intuition\r\n<!-- Describe your first thoughts on how to solve this problem. -->\r\nFor this problem we need to find the maximum and second maximum values in the array and the minimum and second minimum values. The product difference will be maximized when the larger values are multiplied, and the smaller values are multiplied, resulting in the largest difference.\r\n\r\n# Approach\r\n<!-- Describe your approach to solving the problem. -->\r\n1. Sort the array: Sorting the array makes it easier to identify the maximum and minimum values.\r\n\r\n2. Find the maximum and second maximum elements: Identify the two largest elements in the sorted array.\r\n\r\n3. Find the minimum and second minimum elements: Identify the two smallest elements in the sorted array.\r\n\r\n4. Calculate the product difference: Compute the product difference using the formula: _*(max1 * max2) - (min1 * min2)*_.\r\n\r\n5. Return the result: The result of the product difference is the maximum such value.\r\n\r\nLet us see the approach in pseudocode:\r\n[]()\r\n```\r\nfunction maxProductDifference(nums):\r\n    // Sort the array\r\n    sort(nums)\r\n\r\n    // Find the maximum and second maximum elements\r\n    max1 = nums[length(nums) - 1]\r\n    max2 = nums[length(nums) - 2]\r\n\r\n    // Find the minimum and second minimum elements\r\n    min1 = nums[0]\r\n    min2 = nums[1]\r\n\r\n    // Calculate the product difference\r\n    result = (max1 * max2) - (min1 * min2)\r\n\r\n    // Return the result\r\n    return result\r\n\r\n```\r\n\r\n# Complexity\r\n- Time complexity: O(n log n)\r\n<!-- Add your time complexity here, e.g. $$O(n)$$ -->\r\n\r\n\r\n- Space complexity: O(n)\r\n<!-- Add your space complexity here, e.g. $$O(n)$$ -->\r\n\r\n# Code\r\n\r\n<iframe src="https://leetcode.com/playground/7fxBb4uk/shared" frameBorder="0" width="400" height="300"></iframe>
['Sorting', 'C++', 'Java']