Problem 44815. Word Distance - Sum

Let's suppose that the distance of a word can be calculated by summing the differences between its letters, having assigned the letters of the alphabet to integers (a = 1, b = 2, ... z = 26). For example, if

 word = 'hello'

then the total distance would be

 abs(8–5) + abs(5–12) + abs(12–12) + abs(12–15) = 3 + 7 + 0 + 3 = 13.

Let's also make this case insensitive (i.e., 'A' = 'a'). Write a function to return the distance for any word or set of words. See the test suite for examples.

Solve

Solution Stats

24.01% Correct | 75.99% Incorrect
Last Solution submitted on Apr 21, 2025

Problem Comments

Solution Comments

Show comments

Problem Recent Solvers173

Suggested Problems

More from this Author139

Community Treasure Hunt

Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!

Start Hunting!