Example: Minimum Operations to Equalize Array Elements (Brute-Force Approach) in Java

// Minimum Operations to Equalize Array Elements (Brute-Force Approach)
    import java.util.Arrays; // Required for toString and for min/max helper

    // Main class containing the entry point of the program
    public class Main {
        public static void main(String[] args) {
            int[] arr1 = {1, 2, 3};
            int[] arr2 = {1, 10, 2, 9};

            System.out.println("Array: " + Arrays.toString(arr1) + ", Min Operations (Brute-Force): " + minOperationsBruteForce(arr1)); // Expected: 2
            System.out.println("Array: " + Arrays.toString(arr2) + ", Min Operations (Brute-Force): " + minOperationsBruteForce(arr2)); // Expected: 16
        }

        // Method to calculate minimum operations using brute force
        public static long minOperationsBruteForce(int[] arr) {
            if (arr == null || arr.length <= 1) {
                return 0;
            }

            // Step 1: Find the minimum and maximum values in the array
            int minVal = arr[0];
            int maxVal = arr[0];
            for (int i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
                if (arr[i] < minVal) {
                    minVal = arr[i];
                }
                if (arr[i] > maxVal) {
                    maxVal = arr[i];
                }
            }

            // Step 2: Initialize minimum operations to a very large value
            long overallMinOperations = Long.MAX_VALUE;

            // Step 3: Iterate through all possible target values from minVal to maxVal
            for (int target = minVal; target <= maxVal; target++) {
                long currentOperations = 0;
                // Step 3a: Calculate operations for the current target
                for (int num : arr) {
                    currentOperations += Math.abs(num - target);
                }
                // Step 3b: Update overall minimum if current target yields fewer operations
                if (currentOperations < overallMinOperations) {
                    overallMinOperations = currentOperations;
                }
            }

            // Step 4: Return the overall minimum operations found
            return overallMinOperations;
        }
    }