As the following picture:
It's a circle that is consist of the numbers,how can i simply calculate the distance between some tow numbers,for example,5 and 8 is 3;22 and 2 is 4 ???????????
0 1 2 3 4 5
23 6
22 7
21 8
20 9
19 10
18 11
17 16 15 14 13 12

The short answer in Python is

lambda a, b, size: min((a - b) % size, (b - a) % size)

where a and b are inputs and size is the number of elements (24 for this case).

The slightly longer answer is
SIZE = 24

def dis(a, b):
d1 = (a - b) % size
d2 = (b - a) % size
return min(d1, d2)

And, if you don't like modular arithmetic,
SIZE = 24

def dis2(a, b):
high = max(a, b)
low = min(a, b)
dis1 = high - low
dis2 = SIZE - dis1
return min(dis1, dis2)

That one only works for values of a and b in range(0, 24), but it saves you the trouble of having to understand modular arithmetic. ;)

The slightly longer answer is
SIZE = 24

def dis(a, b):
d1 = (a - b) % size
d2 = (b - a) % size
return min(d1, d2)
-----------------------
It dosen't work:
a=22,b=2
d1=(22-2)%24 = 20
d2=(2-22)%24 = -20
min(d1,d2)=20 is not the right answer 4?!!!!!??!!?!

(2 - 22) = -20
-20 % 24 = 4
Bear in mind that % returns the remainder of the division of its arguments.

-20%24=4???How do calculate that?!Is it not -20?!

No, that's the mod operator. So,
-20 % 24 is equivalent to -20 mod 24 (in psuedo code).
If you are questioning the math behind it, here is the complicated answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_arithmetic

Consider:
52 % 24 = 4
28 % 24 = 4
4 % 24 = 4
-20 % 24 = 4

52 = 2 * 24 +4
28 = 1 * 24 + 4
4 = 0 * 24 + 4
-20 = -1 * 24 + 4