8.3 Magic Index

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);
    }