I am given a list of integers/floats and I need to find the two numbers closest together. How would I do that using only nested for loops?
For each element, you have to compare the distance of it to each of the other elements with your previous "closest" value - any time this comparison yields smaller values, you remember that pair as the "two closest" ones.
So, it is straightforward:
def find_two_closest(numbers):
# most distant points:
delta = max(numbers), min(numbers)
for i, element in enumerate(numbers):
for j, sec_element in enumerate(numbers):
if i == j:
continue
if abs(sec_element - element) < abs(delta[0] - delta[1]):
delta = sec_element, element
return delta