162. Find Peak Element

1 Description #

source: https://leetcode.com/problems/find-peak-element/

A peak element is an element that is strictly greater than its neighbors.

Given an integer array nums, find a peak element, and return its index. If the array contains multiple peaks, return the index to any of the peaks.

You may imagine that nums[-1] = nums[n] = -∞.

You must write an algorithm that runs in O(log n) time.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,2,3,1]
Output: 2
Explanation: 3 is a peak element and your function should return the index number 2.

Example 2:

Input: nums = [1,2,1,3,5,6,4]
Output: 5
Explanation: Your function can return either index number 1 where the peak element is 2, or index number 5 where the peak element is 6.

Constraints:

  • 1 <= nums.length <= 1000
  • -2^31 <= nums[i] <= 2^31 - 1
  • nums[i] != nums[i + 1] for all valid i.

2 Solution #

class Solution {
public:
  int findPeakElement(vector<int> &nums) {
    // Time complexity: O(logN)
    // Space complexity: O(1)
    int low = 0;
    int high = nums.size();
    int mid = 0;
    while (low <= high) {
      mid = (low + high) / 2;
      if (mid != 0 && nums[mid] < nums[mid - 1]) {
	high = mid - 1;
      } else if (mid != nums.size() - 1 && nums[mid] < nums[mid + 1]) {
	low = mid + 1;
      } else {
	return mid;
      }
    }

    return mid;
  }
};