TheConsecutiveIntegersDivOne | Topcoder Archive

Problem Statement

John and Brus have some integers. You are given these integers in a int[] numbers. In one operation they can pick a number and increase/decrease it by 1. They want to have at least k consecutive integers. The order in which those integers appear in numbers does not matter. Return the minimal number of operations required to achieve the goal.

Definition

Class:: TheConsecutiveIntegersDivOne
Method:: find
Parameters:: int[], int
Returns:: int
Method signature:: int find(int[] numbers, int k)
(be sure your method is public)

Constraints

numbers will contain between 2 and 47 elements, inclusive.
Each element of numbers will be between -10,000,000 and 10,000,000, inclusive.
All elements of numbers will be distinct.
k will be between 1 and the number of elements in numbers, inclusive.

Examples

```
{4, 7, 47}
```
```
2
```
```
Returns: 2
```
There are three optimal strategies: Increase 4 two times to obtain {6,7,47}. Decrease 7 two times to obtain {4,5,47}. Increase 4 and decrease 7 to obtain {5,6,47}.
```
{1, 100}
```
```
1
```
```
Returns: 0
```
No operation is needed.
```
{-96, -53, 82, -24, 6, -75}
```
```
2
```
```
Returns: 20
```
```
{64, -31, -56}
```
```
2
```
```
Returns: 24
```
```
{-96, -53, 82, -24, 6, -75}
```
```
4
```
```
Returns: 90
```

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