Find the smallest possible average formed by pairing the minimum and maximum values from a list.
Problem
Given an array of numbers, repeatedly consider the smallest and largest remaining elements as a pair and compute their average. Your task is to determine the minimum average among all such pairings.
In the standard interpretation of this problem, you do not need to construct all pairs explicitly. You only need to identify the pair consisting of the current smallest and largest values, compute their average, and return the minimum average seen across the relevant pairings.
This problem mainly tests whether you can reason about extremes in an array and process values efficiently.
Input Format
- An integer array
nums. - The array contains at least one number.
Output Format
- Return a number representing the minimum average value derived from the relevant smallest/largest pairing logic.
Constraints
- The exact constraints depend on the platform version.
- A linear-time pass or an approach should be sufficient for typical interview settings.
- Use safe numeric handling for averages.
Example 1
Input
nums = [7, 8, 3, 4, 15, 13, 4, 1]
Output
6.0
Explanation
The smallest and largest values are 1 and 15, giving an average of 8.0. If the intended task is to evaluate all paired extremes after sorting, the minimum relevant average comes from the smallest/largest pair among the considered elements. This example is illustrative of the extreme-pairing idea.
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