Question

Given n>2 numbers, you want to find a number that is neither the minimum or the maximum. What is the smallest number of comparisons that you need to perform?

a) n−1
b) n
c) n+1
d) 2n

Answer 1

The smallest number of comparisons needed to find a number that is neither the minimum nor the maximum is n-1.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find a number that is neither the minimum nor the maximum among n numbers, we need to perform n-2 comparisons. This is because we can eliminate the minimum and maximum numbers with two comparisons, and then we are left with n-2 numbers, among which we can find the number we are looking for. Therefore, the smallest number of comparisons needed is (n-2), which is equivalent to option a) (n-1).