#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
#ifdef ngu
#include "debug.h"
#else
#define debug(...) 42
#endif
const int N = (int) 2e5 + 5;
const int LOG = 18;
int n;
int p[N], lg[N];
int st[LOG][N];
int cmb(int a, int b) {
return p[a] > p[b] ? a : b;
}
int get(int l, int r) {
int k = lg[r - l + 1];
return cmb(st[k][l], st[k][r - (1 << k) + 1]);
}
int dnc(int l, int r) {
if (l == r) {
return 0;
}
int mid = get(l, r);
if (l == mid) {
return abs(mid - get(l + 1, r)) + dnc(l + 1, r);
}
if (mid == r) {
return abs(mid - get(l, r - 1)) + dnc(l, r - 1);
}
return max(abs(mid - get(mid + 1, r)) + dnc(mid + 1, r), abs(mid - get(l, mid - 1)) + dnc(l, mid - 1));
}
signed main() {
ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
cin.tie(0);
#ifdef ngu
freopen("test.inp", "r", stdin);
freopen("test.out", "w", stdout);
#endif
int n;
cin >> n;
for (int i = 1; i <= n; ++i) {
if (i > 1) {
lg[i] = lg[i / 2] + 1;
}
cin >> p[i];
}
iota(st[0] + 1, st[0] + n + 1, 1);
for (int j = 1; j <= lg[n]; ++j) {
for (int i = 1; i + (1 << j) - 1 <= n; ++i) {
st[j][i] = cmb(st[j - 1][i], st[j - 1][i + (1 << (j - 1))]);
}
}
cout << dnc(1, n);
}
