adventofcode2021/aoc7-2.py

import statistics

def main():
    with open("aoc7-1.txt", "r") as file:
        positions = [int(el) for el in file.read().strip().split(",")]
    # Gonna brute-force this and see what happens.
    # I bet I'm right and am just doing math wrong at one point.
    # By definition, the position we want will be between the lowest
    # and highest values in the list.
    # positions = [16,1,2,0,4,2,7,1,2,14]
    # mn, mx = min(positions), max(positions) # the outer bounds
    # movegroups = []
    # for pos in positions:
    #     movegroup = []
    #     for i in range(mn, mx+1):
    #         movegroup.append(sum(range(abs(pos-i)+1)))
    #     movegroups.append(movegroup)
    # movetotals = []
    # for i in range((mx-mn)+1):
    #     mt = []
    #     for move in movegroups:
    #         mt.append(move[i])
    #     movetotals.append(sum(mt))
    # print(min(movetotals), mn + movetotals.index(min(movetotals)))
    # print(statistics.mean(positions))
    # I WAS RIGHT
    # Leaving the above in for posterity
    med = int(statistics.mean(positions))
    moves = [sum(range(abs(pos-med)+1)) for pos in positions]
    print(sum(moves))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()