Program to check we can rearrange array to make difference between each pair of elements same in Python

Suppose we have a list called nums, we have to check whether we can rearrange the order of nums in such a way that the difference between every pair of consecutive two numbers is same.

So, if the input is like nums = [8, 2, 6, 4], then the output will be True, because if we rearrange nums like [2, 4, 6, 8], then the difference between every two pair of consecutive numbers is 2.

To solve this, we will follow these steps −

• N := size of nums

• if N <= 2, then

  • return True

• sort the list nums

• targetDiff := nums[1] - nums[0]

• for i in range 2 to N - 1, do

  • if nums[i] - nums[i - 1] is not same as targetDiff, then

    • return False

• return True

Example

Let us see the following implementation to get better understanding

def solve(nums):
   N = len(nums)
   if N <= 2:
      return True
   nums.sort()
   targetDiff = nums[1] - nums[0]
   for i in range(2, N):
      if nums[i] - nums[i - 1] != targetDiff:
         return False
   return True

nums = [8, 2, 6, 4]
print(solve(nums))

Input

[8, 2, 6, 4]

Output

True