# Minimum number of moves to equalize a list

Given a list of $n$ integers. In one move we can either decrease exactly one element by $1,2$ or $5$. What is the minimum number of moves required to equalize the list?

For example: If the list is $2,2,3,7$ then we require at-least $2$ moves to equalize this array.

1. Decreasing the third element by $1$ to get $2,2,2,7$
2. Decreasing the fifth element by $5$ to get $2,2,2,2$

What could be the general approach to solve this problem?

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While any entry exceeds the minimal entry by at least $5$, decrease it greadily by $5$. After that, all entries are $\in\{n,n+1,n+2,n+3,n+4\}$. If $n$ is the smallest original list entry, this step takes $\lfloor \frac{k-n}5\rfloor$ steps for an entry of value $k$.
You could now take $n$ as target minimum. That takes one additional move per $n+1$ and $n+2$, but two additional moves per $n+3$ and $n+4$. Thus if you have $a_k$ entries $n+k$, the cost is $$\tag1a_1+a_2+2a_3+2a_4.$$ Alternatively, you can take $n-1$ as target minimum. Then you need one move per $n$, $n+1$, and $n+4$ entry, but two moves per $n+2$ or $n+3$. So now the cost is $$\tag2 a_0+a_1+2a_2+2a_3+a_4.$$ If $a_0+a_2\le a_4$, this is better. Alternatively, you can take $n-2$ as target minimum, with cost $$\tag4a_0+2a_1+2a_2+a_3+2a_4.$$ Trying $n-3$ or less is not worth while as the cost would always beat least as big as the value given in $(1)$.