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

867 Solutions

184 Solvers

Last Solution submitted on Mar 07, 2026

Last 200 Solutions

Problem Comments

Solution Comments

Show comments

Problem Recent Solvers184

imran saeed aid Andres Jack

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!