Problem 3: The Cow Run [Chris Tzamos, 2006]

Farmer John has forgotten to repair a hole in the fence on his farm, and his N cows (1 <= N <= 1,000) have escaped and gone on a rampage! Each minute a cow is outside the fence, she causes one dollar worth of damage. FJ must visit each cow to install a halter that will calm the cow and stop the damage.

Fortunately, the cows are positioned at distinct locations along a straight line on a road outside the farm. FJ knows the location P_i of each cow i (-500,000 <= P_i <= 500,000, P_i != 0) relative to the gate (position 0) where FJ starts.

FJ moves at one unit of distance per minute and can install a halter instantly. Please determine the order that FJ should visit the cows so he can minimize the total cost of the damage; you should compute the minimum total damage cost in this case.

#3831 upload 2 done 1 how_to_reg 1

The Cow Run timer 1s memory 128MB

#3831

The Cow Run 1s 128MB