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Closest Sum Under K

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Your question is Closest Sum Under K. Start with the requirements on the right.

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Problem

For an eligibility calculation in the Aditya Birla Capital app, two numeric values must be selected from an array. Given an integer array nums and an integer k, return two distinct elements whose sum is strictly less than k and as close to k as possible.

Return the selected values in nondecreasing order. If multiple pairs have the same best sum, return the lexicographically smallest pair. If no valid pair exists, return an empty list. Each array element may be used at most once.

Formal Specification

  • Input: nums, a list of integers, and k, an integer.
  • Output: A two-element list [a, b] where a <= b, a + b < k, and the sum is maximal among all valid pairs. Return [] when no valid pair exists.

Constraints

  • 2 <= len(nums) <= 10^5
  • -10^9 <= nums[i] <= 10^9
  • -10^9 <= k <= 10^9
  • Elements must come from two different positions
  • Duplicate values are allowed

Function Signature

def closest_pair_less_than_k(nums, k):
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