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Neither Minimum nor Maximum

Difficulty: Easy

Problem Description

Given an integer array nums containing distinct positive integers, find and return any number from the array that is neither the minimum nor the maximum value in the array, or -1 if there is no such number. Return the selected integer.

Key Insights

  • The problem requires identifying a number that is neither the smallest nor the largest in the array.
  • If the length of the array is less than 3, it is impossible to have a number that meets the criteria, and -1 should be returned.
  • The distinct nature of integers in the array simplifies the search for minimum and maximum values.

Space and Time Complexity

Time Complexity: O(n) - where n is the number of elements in the array, as we need to traverse the array to find the minimum and maximum. Space Complexity: O(1) - as we only use a constant amount of extra space for variables.

Solution

To solve this problem, we can follow these steps:

  1. Traverse the array to find the minimum and maximum values.
  2. Check if the length of the array is greater than 2 to ensure there's potential for a middle value.
  3. Iterate through the array again to find and return any number that is neither the minimum nor the maximum.
  4. If no such number exists, return -1.

The data structures used are arrays for storing the integers, and we utilize a couple of variables to store the minimum and maximum values.

Code Solutions

def find_neither_min_nor_max(nums):
    # Step 1: Find the minimum and maximum values
    min_num = min(nums)
    max_num = max(nums)

    # Step 2: If there are less than 3 numbers, return -1
    if len(nums) < 3:
        return -1

    # Step 3: Find any number that is neither min nor max
    for num in nums:
        if num != min_num and num != max_num:
            return num

    # Step 4: If no such number exists, return -1
    return -1
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