540. Single Element in a Sorted Array

Given a sorted array consisting of only integers where every element appears exactly twice except for one element which appears exactly once. Find this single element that appears only once.

Example 1:

Input: [1,1,2,3,3,4,4,8,8]
Output: 2
Example 2:

Input: [3,3,7,7,10,11,11]
Output: 10

Note: Your solution should run in O(log n) time and O(1) space.

方法1: binary search

discussion: https://leetcode.com/problems/single-element-in-a-sorted-array/discuss/100754/Java-Binary-Search-short-(7l)-O(log(n))-w-explanations
discussion：https://leetcode.com/problems/single-element-in-a-sorted-array/discuss/100766/C%2B%2B-binary-search

思路：

由于题目限制了要在O(log n) 的时间内找到，那么基本只能用binary search。但是如何在看到mid 之后决定向那个方向继续搜索呢？举个栗子：

偶数：
 // Index: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
 // Array: 1 1 2 3 3 8 8
 // Array: 1 1 3 3 4 8 8
 				 ^
奇数：
 // Index: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
 // Array: 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 8 8
 // Array: 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 8 8
 				   ^

当mid是偶数的时候，左边截取到偶数个数字，右边奇数个。此时我们判断mid–之后是否和右边的能组成pair。如果single在左边，此时刚好是pair，如果在右边则不是。而如果mid是奇数，我们不用将mid–直接和右边比较能否pair。如果能，说明single在右边，如果不能则说明在左边。

class Solution {
public:
    int singleNonDuplicate(vector<int>& nums) {
        int n = nums.size(), left = 0, right = n - 1;
        while (left < right) {
            int mid = left + (right - left) / 2;
            if (mid % 2 == 0) {
                if (nums[mid] == nums[mid-1]) right = mid - 2;
                else if (nums[mid] == nums[mid+1]) left = mid + 2;
                else return nums[mid];
            }
            else {
                if (nums[mid] == nums[mid-1]) left = mid + 1;
                else if (nums[mid] == nums[mid+1]) right = mid - 1;
            }
        }
        return nums[left];
    }
};

discussion里的另一种高分解法。将两种情况用一个判断句mid–合并。

class Solution {
public:
    int singleNonDuplicate(vector<int>& nums) {
        int n = nums.size(), left = 0, right = n - 1;
        while (left < right) {
            int mid = left + (right - left) / 2;
            if (mid % 2 == 1) mid--;
            if (nums[mid] == nums[mid + 1]) left = mid + 2;
            else right = mid;            
        }
        return nums[left];
    }
};