Knight's Shortest Path on Chessboard

Question

I\'ve been practicing for an upcoming programming competition and I have stumbled across a question that I am just completely bewildered at. However, I feel as though it\'s

Answer 1

The O(1) answer above [https://stackoverflow.com/a/8778592/4288232 by Mustafa Serdar Şanlı] isn't really working. (Check (1,1) or (3,2) or (4,4), aside for the obvious edge cases of (1,0) or (2,2)).

Below is a much uglier solution (python), which does work (with added "tests"):

def solve(x,y):
        x = abs(x)
        y = abs(y)
        if y > x:
            temp=y
            y=x
            x=temp  
        if (x==2 and y==2):
            return 4
        if (x==1 and y==0):
            return 3

    if(y == 0 or float(y) / float(x) <= 0.5):
        xClass = x % 4
        if (xClass == 0):
            initX = x/2
        elif(xClass == 1):
            initX = 1 + (x/2)
        elif(xClass == 2):
            initX = 1 + (x/2)
        else:
            initX = 1 + ((x+1)/2)

        if (xClass > 1):
            return initX - (y%2)
        else:
            return initX + (y%2)
    else:
        diagonal = x - ((x-y)/2)
        if((x-y)%2 == 0):
            if (diagonal % 3 == 0):
                return (diagonal/3)*2
            if (diagonal % 3 == 1):
                return ((diagonal/3)*2)+2
            else:
                return ((diagonal/3)*2)+2
        else:
            return ((diagonal/3)*2)+1


def test():
    real=[
    [0,3,2,3,2,3,4,5,4,5,6,7,6,7],
    [3,2,1,2,3,4,3,4,5,6,5,6,7,8],
    [2,1,4,3,2,3,4,5,4,5,6,7,6,7],
    [3,2,3,2,3,4,3,4,5,6,5,6,7,8],
    [2,3,2,3,4,3,4,5,4,5,6,7,6,7],
    [3,4,3,4,3,4,5,4,5,6,5,6,7,8],
    [4,3,4,3,4,5,4,5,6,5,6,7,6,7],
    [5,4,5,4,5,4,5,6,5,6,7,6,7,8],
    [4,5,4,5,4,5,6,5,6,7,6,7,8,7],
    [5,6,5,6,5,6,5,6,7,6,7,8,7,8],
    [6,5,6,5,6,5,6,7,6,7,8,7,8,9],
    [7,6,7,6,7,6,7,6,7,8,7,8,9,8]]

    for x in range(12):
        for y in range(12):
            res = solve(x,y)
            if res!= real[x][y]:
                print (x, y), "failed, and returned", res, "rather than", real[x][y]
            else:
               print (x, y), "worked. Cool!"

test()