Problem:
Score : 400 points

Problem Statement

You are given N integers; the i-th of them is A_i.
Find the maximum possible sum of the absolute differences between the adjacent elements after arranging these integers in a row in any order you like.

Constraints

2 \leq N \leq 10^5

1 \leq A_i \leq 10^9

All values in input are integers.

Input

Input is given from Standard Input in the following format:

N
A_1
:
A_N

Output

Print the maximum possible sum of the absolute differences between the adjacent elements after arranging the given integers in a row in any order you like.

Sample Input 1

5
6
8
1
2
3

Sample Output 1

21

When the integers are arranged as 3,8,1,6,2, the sum of the absolute differences between the adjacent elements is |3 - 8| + |8 - 1| + |1 - 6| + |6 - 2| = 21. This is the maximum possible sum.

Sample Input 2

6
3
1
4
1
5
9

Sample Output 2

25

Sample Input 3

3
5
5
1

Sample Output 3

8

Solution in Rust (1.15.1) (judge verdict: Time Limit Exceeded)

#![allow(unused_imports)]

#[macro_use]
mod _input {
    use std::fmt;
    use std::io::{self, Read};
    use std::str::{self, FromStr};

    macro_rules! input {
        ($($name:ident : $t:tt),*,) => {
            input!($($name: $t),*)
        };
        ($($name:ident : $t:tt),*) => {
            let mut _scanned = ::_input::Scanned::new(::std::io::stdin(), 1024);
            $(
                let $name = _read_value!(_scanned, $t);
            )*
        };
    }

    macro_rules! _read_value {
        ($scanned:expr, ($($t:tt),*)) => {
            ($(_read_value!($scanned, $t)),*)
        };
        ($scanned:expr, [$t:tt; $n:expr]) => {
            (0..$n).map(|_| _read_value!($scanned, $t)).collect::<Vec<_>>()
        };
        ($scanned:expr, _bytes) => {
            _read_value!($scanned, String).into_bytes()
        };
        ($scanned:expr, _index) => {
            _read_value!($scanned, usize) - 1
        };
        ($scanned:expr, $t:ty) => {
            $scanned.next::<$t>()
        };
    }

    #[derive(Default)]
    pub struct Scanned {
        buf: Vec<u8>,
        pos: usize,
    }

    impl Scanned {
        pub fn new<R: Read>(mut input: R, estimated: usize) -> Self {
            let mut buf = Vec::with_capacity(estimated);
            let _ = io::copy(&mut input, &mut buf).unwrap();
            if buf.last() != Some(&b'\n') {
                buf.push(b'\n'); // input may not end with '\n'
            }
            // https://doc.rust-lang.org/src/core/char/methods.rs.html#906-908
            // assert!(str::from_utf8(&buf).unwrap().bytes().all(|c| u32::from(c) <= 0x7F));
            Scanned { buf: buf, pos: 0 }
        }

        #[inline]
        pub fn next<T: FromStr>(&mut self) -> T
        where
            T::Err: fmt::Debug,
        {
            let mut start = None;
            loop {
                match (self.buf[self.pos], start.is_some()) {
                    (b' ', true) | (b'\n', true) => break,
                    (_, true) | (b' ', false) | (b'\n', false) => self.pos += 1,
                    (_, false) => start = Some(self.pos),
                }
            }
            let target = &self.buf[start.unwrap()..self.pos];
            unsafe { str::from_utf8_unchecked(target) }.parse().unwrap()
        }
    }
}

#[allow(dead_code)]
mod output {
    use std::io::{self, BufWriter, StdoutLock, Write as _Write};

    pub fn with_stdout<F: FnMut(&mut BufWriter<StdoutLock>)>(mut f: F) {
        let stdout = io::stdout();
        let mut stdout = BufWriter::new(stdout.lock());
        f(&mut stdout);
        stdout.flush().unwrap();
    }
}

use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet, BinaryHeap, HashMap, HashSet, VecDeque};
use std::io::Write;
use std::ops::{
    Add, AddAssign, BitAnd, BitAndAssign, BitOr, BitOrAssign, BitXor, BitXorAssign, Div, DivAssign,
    Mul, MulAssign, Neg, Not, Rem, RemAssign, Sub, SubAssign,
};
use std::str::{self, FromStr};
use std::{char, cmp, f32, f64, fmt, i16, i32, i64, i8, thread, u16, u32, u64, u8};

fn main() {
    input! {
        n: usize,
        a: [u64; n],
    }
    let mut a = a;
    a.sort();
    let r = {
        let r1 = go(&a);
        a.sort_by(|a, b| b.cmp(&a));
        let r2 = go(&a);
        cmp::max(r1, r2)
    };
    println!("{}", r);
}

fn go(a: &[u64]) -> u64 {
    fn pop_front(v: &mut Vec<u64>) -> Option<u64> {
        let rest = v.split_off(1);
        let popped = v.get(0).cloned();
        *v = rest;
        popped
    }

    let mut a = a.to_vec();
    let n = a.len();
    let m = n / 2;
    let mut v = vec![0; n];
    for i in 0..n {
        match i % 4 {
            0 => v[m + (i / 2)] = pop_front(&mut a).unwrap(),
            1 => v[m - ((i + 1) / 2)] = a.pop().unwrap(),
            2 => v[m + (i / 2)] = a.pop().unwrap(),
            3 => v[m - ((i + 1) / 2)] = pop_front(&mut a).unwrap(),
            _ => unreachable!(),
        }
    }
    count(&v)
}

fn count(xs: &[u64]) -> u64 {
    xs.windows(2)
        .map(|w| cmp::max(w[0], w[1]) - cmp::min(w[0], w[1]))
        .sum()
}