The challenge
You need to create a function that when provided with a triplet, returns the index of the numerical element that lies between the other two elements.
The input to the function will be an array of three distinct numbers (Haskell: a tuple).
For example:
gimme([2, 3, 1]) => 0
2 is the number that fits between 1 and 3 and the index of 2 in the input array is __.
Another example (just to make sure it is clear):
gimme([5, 10, 14]) => 1
10 is the number that fits between 5 and 14 and the index of 10 in the input array is 1.
The solution in C
Option 1:
int gimme (const int triplet[3]) {
int maxi = 0;
int mini = 0;
for(int i = 1; i < 3; i++){
if(triplet[i] < triplet[mini]){
mini = i;
} else if(triplet[i] > triplet[maxi]){
maxi = i;
}
}
return 3 - maxi - mini;
}
Option 2:
int gimme (const int triplet[3]) {
int a = triplet[0];
int b = triplet[1];
int c = triplet[2];
return a > b && a < c || a > c && a < b ? 0 : b > a && b < c || b > c && b < a ? 1 : 2;
}
Option 3:
int gimme(const int _[3]) {
int a=_[0],b=_[1],c=_[2],t;
if(a>b){t=a;a=b;b=t;}
if(b>c){t=b;b=c;c=t;}
if(a>b){t=a;a=b;b=t;}
return _[0]==b?0:_[1]==b?1:2;
}
Test cases to validate our solution
#include <criterion/criterion.h>
extern void do_test (const int triplet[3], int expected);
Test(tests_suite, sample_tests)
{
do_test((int[3]){2, 1, 3}, 0);
do_test((int[3]){2, 3, 1}, 0);
do_test((int[3]){1, 2, 3}, 1);
do_test((int[3]){3, 2, 1}, 1);
do_test((int[3]){1, 3, 2}, 2);
do_test((int[3]){3, 1, 2}, 2);
}