#P7522. Maximum Final Value from Sequence Operations
Maximum Final Value from Sequence Operations
Maximum Final Value from Sequence Operations
Mivik is listening to Nurture when the coach walked in, so he pretended he was solving this problem.
You are given a sequence \(v\) of length \(n\). In each operation, you may remove two numbers \(a\) and \(b\) from the sequence and then add \(a-b\) to the sequence. You repeat this process until only one number remains. Your task is to compute the maximum possible value of the final number.
Observation: By carefully arranging the order of operations, one optimal strategy is to choose an ordering that leads to the expression \[ v_{i_1} - (v_{i_2} - v_{i_3} - \cdots - v_{i_n}) = \Bigl(\sum_{i=1}^{n} v_i\Bigr) - 2\min(v), \] which is maximum when \(\min(v)\) is subtracted twice.
(Mivik later got criticized for wasting time on this trivial problem.)
inputFormat
The first line contains a single integer \(n\) (\(2 \le n \le 10^5\)), the length of the sequence.
The second line contains \(n\) space-separated integers \(v_1, v_2, \dots, v_n\).
outputFormat
Output a single integer, the maximum possible final number obtainable after applying the operations.
sample
2
1 5
4