TheConsecutiveIntegersDivTwo | Topcoder Archive

Problem Statement

John and Brus have a set of integers. You are given its elements in a int[] numbers. They can change the integers in numbers by performing some operations. In each operation John will pick a number and Brus will either increase or decrease it by 1.

You are also given an int k which is either 1 or 2. John and Brus want to have at least k integers with consecutive values in their set. Compute and return the smallest number of operations they have to perform.

Definition

Class:: TheConsecutiveIntegersDivTwo
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 2, inclusive.

Examples

```
{4, 47, 7}
```
```
2
```
```
Returns: 2
```
There are three optimal strategies: Increase 4 two times to obtain {6,47,7}. Decrease 7 two times to obtain {4,47,5}. Increase 4 and decrease 7 to obtain {5,47,6}. Note that the consecutive values can appear anywhere in the set, their position in numbers does not matter.
```
{1, 100}
```
```
1
```
```
Returns: 0
```
No operation is needed.
```
{-96, -53, 82, -24, 6, -75}
```
```
2
```
```
Returns: 20
```
```
{64, -31, -56}
```
```
2
```
```
Returns: 24
```

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