Hiring process8 levels
  1. 1 IQ Test
  2. 2 Additional Online Test (If Required)
  3. 3 Office Interview with Hiring Manager
  4. 4 Unpaid Test Task (Motivation Check)
  5. 5 Paid Test Task and Follow-Up Interview
  6. 6 Iterative Paid Test Tasks
  7. 7 Office Verification
  8. 8 Final Interview with the Founder

Problems > Make Everyone Equal > Editorial

Make Everyone Equal — Solution & Editorial

Back to the Problem

The optimal target is the median (it minimizes the sum of absolute deviations); sum |ai − median|.

Complexity: O(N log N)

Watch out: Total moves reach ~1014; and the mean is wrong — the median is optimal for L1 cost.