Formatted question description: https://leetcode.ca/all/2210.html

# 2210. Count Hills and Valleys in an Array (Easy)

You are given a 0-indexed integer array nums. An index i is part of a hill in nums if the closest non-equal neighbors of i are smaller than nums[i]. Similarly, an index i is part of a valley in nums if the closest non-equal neighbors of i are larger than nums[i]. Adjacent indices i and j are part of the same hill or valley if nums[i] == nums[j].

Note that for an index to be part of a hill or valley, it must have a non-equal neighbor on both the left and right of the index.

Return the number of hills and valleys in nums.

Example 1:

Input: nums = [2,4,1,1,6,5]
Output: 3
Explanation:
At index 0: There is no non-equal neighbor of 2 on the left, so index 0 is neither a hill nor a valley.
At index 1: The closest non-equal neighbors of 4 are 2 and 1. Since 4 > 2 and 4 > 1, index 1 is a hill.
At index 2: The closest non-equal neighbors of 1 are 4 and 6. Since 1 < 4 and 1 < 6, index 2 is a valley.
At index 3: The closest non-equal neighbors of 1 are 4 and 6. Since 1 < 4 and 1 < 6, index 3 is a valley, but note that it is part of the same valley as index 2.
At index 4: The closest non-equal neighbors of 6 are 1 and 5. Since 6 > 1 and 6 > 5, index 4 is a hill.
At index 5: There is no non-equal neighbor of 5 on the right, so index 5 is neither a hill nor a valley.
There are 3 hills and valleys so we return 3.


Example 2:

Input: nums = [6,6,5,5,4,1]
Output: 0
Explanation:
At index 0: There is no non-equal neighbor of 6 on the left, so index 0 is neither a hill nor a valley.
At index 1: There is no non-equal neighbor of 6 on the left, so index 1 is neither a hill nor a valley.
At index 2: The closest non-equal neighbors of 5 are 6 and 4. Since 5 < 6 and 5 > 4, index 2 is neither a hill nor a valley.
At index 3: The closest non-equal neighbors of 5 are 6 and 4. Since 5 < 6 and 5 > 4, index 3 is neither a hill nor a valley.
At index 4: The closest non-equal neighbors of 4 are 5 and 1. Since 4 < 5 and 4 > 1, index 4 is neither a hill nor a valley.
At index 5: There is no non-equal neighbor of 1 on the right, so index 5 is neither a hill nor a valley.
There are 0 hills and valleys so we return 0.


Constraints:

• 3 <= nums.length <= 100
• 1 <= nums[i] <= 100

Similar Questions:

## Solution 1. Brute Force

Since we skip consecutive equal numbers, and for each number we stop at its previous and next non-equal numbers, this algorithm takes O(N) time.

// OJ: https://leetcode.com/problems/count-hills-and-valleys-in-an-array/
// Time: O(N)
// Space: O(1)
class Solution {
public:
int countHillValley(vector<int>& A) {
int N = A.size(), ans = 0;
for (int i = 1; i < N; ++i) {
if (A[i] == A[i - 1]) continue;
int j = i, k = i;
while (j >= 0 && A[j] == A[i]) --j;
while (k < N && A[k] == A[i]) ++k;
if (j >= 0 && k < N && ((A[j] > A[i] && A[k] > A[i]) || (A[j] < A[i] && A[k] < A[i]))) ++ans;
}
return ans;
}
};