Problem:
Score : 200 points

Problem Statement

Takahashi lives in another world. There are slimes (creatures) of 10000 colors in this world. Let us call these colors Color 1, 2, ..., 10000.

Takahashi has N slimes, and they are standing in a row from left to right. The color of the i-th slime from the left is a_i.
If two slimes of the same color are adjacent, they will start to combine themselves. Because Takahashi likes smaller slimes, he has decided to change the colors of some of the slimes with his magic.

Takahashi can change the color of one slime to any of the 10000 colors by one spell.
How many spells are required so that no slimes will start to combine themselves?

Constraints

2 \leq N \leq 100

1 \leq a_i \leq N

All values in input are integers.

Input

Input is given from Standard Input in the following format:

N
a_1 a_2 ... a_N

Output

Print the minimum number of spells required.

Sample Input 1

5
1 1 2 2 2

Sample Output 1

2

For example, if we change the color of the second slime from the left to 4, and the color of the fourth slime to 5, the colors of the slimes will be 1, 4, 2, 5, 2, which satisfy the condition.

Sample Input 2

3
1 2 1

Sample Output 2

0

Although the colors of the first and third slimes are the same, they are not adjacent, so no spell is required.

Sample Input 3

5
1 1 1 1 1

Sample Output 3

2

For example, if we change the colors of the second and fourth slimes from the left to 2, the colors of the slimes will be 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, which satisfy the condition.

Sample Input 4

14
1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 1 2 3 4

Sample Output 4

4

Solution in Scala (2.11.7) (judge verdict: Accepted)

import java.util.Scanner

import scala.collection.Searching._
import scala.annotation.tailrec
import scala.collection.mutable
import scala.collection.immutable._
import scala.io.StdIn.readLine

class IUnionFind(val size: Int) {

  private case class Node(var parent: Option[Int], var treeSize: Int)

  private val nodes = Array.fill[Node](size)(new Node(None, 1))

  def union(t1: Int, t2: Int): IUnionFind = {
    if (t1 == t2) return this

    val root1 = root(t1)
    val root2 = root(t2)
    if (root1 == root2) return this

    val node1 = nodes(root1)
    val node2 = nodes(root2)

    if (node1.treeSize < node2.treeSize) {
      node1.parent = Some(t2)
      node2.treeSize += node1.treeSize
    } else {
      node2.parent = Some(t1)
      node1.treeSize += node2.treeSize
    }
    this
  }

  def connected(t1: Int, t2: Int): Boolean = t1 == t2 || root(t1) == root(t2)

  def root(t: Int): Int = nodes(t).parent match {
    case None => t
    case Some(p) => {
      nodes(t).parent = Some(root(p))
      nodes(t).parent.get
    }
  }
}

object Main {
  def solve(sc: => Scanner): Unit = {
    val A = Array.fill(sc.nextInt)(sc.nextLong)
    var ans = 0
    for (i <- 0 until A.size - 1) {
      if (A(i) == A(i + 1)) {
        A(i + 1) = -1
        ans += 1
      }
    }
    println(ans)
  }

  def recursive(ax: Long, bx: Long, ay: Long, by: Long): Unit = {

  }

  def recursive2(N: Long): String = {
    if (N == 0) ("") else (('a'.toInt + (N % 26)).toChar + recursive2(N / 26))
  }

  def check(A: Array[List[Int]]): Boolean = {
    A.map(_.size == 0).fold(true)((a, b) => a & b)
  }

  def shift(n: Long): Long = {
    if (n == 0) (0) else if (n == 1) (1) else (shift(n - 1) << 1)
  }

  def unShift(n: Long): Long = {
    if (n == 0) (0) else (unShift(n >> 1) + 1)
  }

  def gcd(i: Long, j: Long): Long = {
    if (i < j) (gcd(j, i)) else (if (j == 0) (i) else (gcd(j, i % j)))
  }

  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
    val sc: Scanner = new Scanner(System.in)
    solve(sc)
  }
}

object Util {
  def getPermutation(begin: Long = 0): Stream[Long] =
    Stream.cons(begin, getPermutation(begin + 1))

  def getPrimeList(): Stream[Long] =
    getPrimeListRecursive(getPermutation(begin = 2))

  private def getPrimeListRecursive(A: Stream[Long]): Stream[Long] =
    Stream.cons(A.head, getPrimeListRecursive(A.tail.filter(_ % A.head != 0)))

  def fib(a: Long = 0, b: Long = 1, mod: Long = Long.MaxValue): Stream[Long] = a #:: fib(b % mod, (a + b) % mod, mod)
}

object ArabicRoman {

  type =?>[A, B] = PartialFunction[A, B]

  val codeTable = List(
    (1000, "M"), (900, "CM"), (500, "D"), (400, "CD"), (100, "C"),
    (90, "XC"), (50, "L"), (40, "XL"), (10, "X"), (9, "IX"), (5, "V"), (4, "IV"), (1, "I"))

  val arabicToRoman: (Int) =?> String = {
    case src if (src >= 1 && src <= 3999) => {

      def convert(left: Int, cont: String = "", code: List[(Int, String)] = codeTable): String = {
        val (unitVal, unitChar) = code.head
        left - unitVal match {
          case n if (n == 0) => cont + unitChar
          case n if (n > 0) => convert(n, cont + unitChar, code)
          case _ => convert(left, cont, code.tail)
        }
      }

      convert(src)
    }
  }

  val romanToArabic: (String) =?> Int = {
    case src if (Option(src).exists { s => {
      s.nonEmpty && ("""[^MDCLXVI]""".r.findFirstMatchIn(s.toUpperCase) == None)
    }
    }) => {

      def convert(left: String, cont: Int = 0, code: List[(Int, String)] = codeTable): Int = {
        val (unitVal, unitChar) = code.head
        left.splitAt(unitChar.length) match {
          case ("", _) => cont
          case (`unitChar`, tail) => convert(tail, cont + unitVal, code)
          case _ => convert(left, cont, code.tail)
        }
      }

      convert(src.toUpperCase())
    }
  }
}