If elements in the sorted array are distinct, then we could simply find the index by binary search.
public static int findMagic(int[] array){
int lo = 0, hi = array.length;
while(lo<hi){
int mid = lo + (hi-lo)/2;
if(mid == array[mid]) return mid;
else if(mid < array[mid]) lo = mid+1;//possible index might in right part;
else hi = mid;
}
return -1;//we didnt find magic index;
}
However, if there is duplicates in array. The previous code won’t work anymore. For example:
the middle position is 5 but the number here is smaller than 5.
Because there might be some duplicates, therefore we have to search both part. But how can we define the range? eg. num[5] = 3, which implies num[4] is smaller than 3 and it cant be magic index. Thus we have to search the range between 0 to 3!.
public static int magicWithDup(int[] array, int start, int end){
if(end < start) return -1;
int mid = start + (end-start)/2;
if(mid == array[mid]) return mid;
int leftIdx = Math.min(mid-1, array[mid]);
int left = magicWithDup(array, start, leftIdx);
if(left>=0) return left;
int rightIdx = Math.max(mid+1, array[mid]);
int right = magicWithDup(array,rightIdx,end);
if(right>=0) return right;
return -1;
}
public static int findMagicWithDup(int[] array){
return magicWithDup(array,0,array.length-1);
}