Find Closest Number to Zero

Given an integer array nums of size n, return the number with the value closest to 0 in nums. If there are multiple answers, return the number with the largest value.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [-4,-2,1,4,8]
Output: 1
Explanation:
The distance from -4 to 0 is |-4| = 4.
The distance from -2 to 0 is |-2| = 2.
The distance from 1 to 0 is |1| = 1.
The distance from 4 to 0 is |4| = 4.
The distance from 8 to 0 is |8| = 8.
Thus, the closest number to 0 in the array is 1.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [2,-1,1]
Output: 1
Explanation: 1 and -1 are both the closest numbers to 0, so 1 being larger is returned.

Solution

class Solution:
    def findClosestNumber(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:
        closest = nums[0]

        for num in nums:
            if abs(num) == abs(closest) and num > closest:
                closest = num
            elif abs(num) < abs(closest):
                closest = num
        return closest