Java - Finding the least common integer in a sorted array

Question

I was assigned a programming problem for homework, and I am at a stand-still. I have searched for hours today trying to find an answer, and it seems like it\'s never been asked

Answer 1

You can use an auxiliary array of length 201 since your range is [-100,100].

int[] counters = new int[201];

Suppose user entered -59, increment that specific counter: (You should add 100 to the entered number to find index, think of -100 is at index 0)

counters[-59 + 100]++;

Then iterate over the counters array and find the smallest non-zero element. Subtract 100 from that index, and that is the least frequent number surely.

int  min = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

for(int i: counters)
{
   if(i != 0 && i < min)
     min = i;
}

Now, it means that counters[i] has occured least frequent, which corresponds (i-100) in actual value.