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Swap Array Elements Efficiently
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Swap Array Elements Efficiently

MediumPython

Problem

Swap the minimum element in an array with the middle element using the minimum number of iterations.

Implement move_minimum_to_middle(nums). The middle index is len(nums) // 2. If the minimum occurs multiple times, choose the occurrence closest to the middle, breaking ties by choosing the smaller index. Move that occurrence to the middle using adjacent swaps and return [updated_array, iterations], where iterations is the number of adjacent swaps.

Input and Output

nums is a non-empty list of integers. Return a two-element list containing the updated list and the swap count.

Constraints

  • 1 <= len(nums)
  • nums contains integers
  • The input array is non-empty
  • The relative order of shifted non-minimum elements must be preserved

Function Signature

def move_minimum_to_middle(nums):
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