Problem Statement

You are given a binary array seats representing the row of seats, where seats[i] = 0 represents that the i^th seat is empty, and seats[i] = 1 represents a person sitting in the i^th seat. It is given that seats array contains at least one 1 and 0.

You want to sit in any seat such that the distance between you and the closest person to you is maximized.

Return that maximum distance to the closest person.

Examples

• Example 1:

  • Input: seats = [1,0,0,0,1,0,0]
  • Expected Output: 2
  • Justification: The best seat is either of the two at the index 2 or 6, as they are both 2 seats away from the nearest occupied seat.

• Example 2:

  • Input: seats = [1,0,0,0,0,1]
  • Expected Output: 2
  • Justification: The middle seats (index 2 or 3) are equally optimal, being 2 seats away from any occupied seat.

• Example 3:

  • Input: seats = [0,1,0,1,0,1,0,0,0,0]
  • Expected Output: 4
  • Justification: The best position is at the end (index 9), which is 4 seats away from the nearest person.

Try it yourself

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