MyFamily

MyFamily.java

import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Scanner;

/**
 * Created by IntelliJ IDEA.
 * CS2011 Homework, Codemarker, 'My Family'
 * User: Philip Hale
 * ID:   50907446
 * Date: 10/11/11
 * Time: 17:59
 *
 */
public class MyFamily {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner input = new Scanner(new BufferedInputStream(System.in));
        int n = Integer.parseInt(input.nextLine());

        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
            String line = input.nextLine();

            // remove the first number, which is just the number of elements in the list
            int firstSpaceIndex = line.indexOf(" ");
            line = line.substring(firstSpaceIndex + 1);

            // convert the input line into an array of ints
            String[] inputLine = line.split(" ");
            int[] street = stringToInt(inputLine);
            Arrays.sort(street);

            // not the strict median, but it doesn't matter so long as we are between the two 'middle' houses.
            int median = street[street.length / 2];

            // we now need to sum the distances between the median and every other point.
            int sum = 0;
            for (int streetNo : street) {
                sum += Math.abs(streetNo - median);
            }

            // finally, output the sum
            System.out.println(sum);
        }
    }


    /*
     * Simply converts a String[] into an int[] like
     *
     *     {"345", "2", "90920"} -> {345, 2, 90920}
     *
     *  @param array A String[] with each element a String representation of an int.
     *  @return An int[] with each element an int.
     */
    private static int[] stringToInt(String[] array) {
        int[] intList = new int[array.length];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            intList[i] = Integer.parseInt(array[i]);
        }
        return intList;
    }



}