C Exercises: Find the pivot element of a sorted and rotated array using binary search

Last update on March 18 2025 13:21:25 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

37. Find Pivot Element in Rotated Array

Write a program in C to find the pivot element of a sorted and rotated array using binary search.

To find the pivot element in a sorted and rotated array using binary search in C, you can implement a method that identifies the point where the array transitions from descending order to ascending order. This transition point indicates the pivot element. By comparing elements efficiently using binary search principles, the program can determine the pivot element in logarithmic time complexity relative to the size of the array.

Pivot element is the only element in input array which is smaller than it's previous element.
A pivot element divided a sorted rotated array into two monotonically increasing array.

Sample Solution:

C Code:

#include <stdio.h>

// Function to find the pivot element in a rotated sorted array
int findPivotElem(int *arr1, int left_elem, int right_elem) {
    // Base cases for recursion
    if (right_elem < left_elem)
        return -1;
    if (right_elem == left_elem)
        return left_elem;

    // Calculate mid element
    int mid_elem = (left_elem + right_elem) / 2;

    // Check if the mid element is the pivot element
    if (mid_elem < right_elem && arr1[mid_elem] > arr1[mid_elem + 1])
        return mid_elem;
    if (mid_elem > left_elem && arr1[mid_elem] < arr1[mid_elem - 1])
        return mid_elem - 1;

    // Recursively search for the pivot element in the left or right sub-array
    if (arr1[left_elem] >= arr1[mid_elem]) {
        return findPivotElem(arr1, left_elem, mid_elem - 1);
    } else {
        return findPivotElem(arr1, mid_elem + 1, right_elem);
    }
}

// Main function
int main() {
    int i;
    int arr1[] = {14, 23, 7, 9, 3, 6, 18, 22, 16, 36};
    int ctr = sizeof(arr1) / sizeof(arr1[0]);

    // Displaying the given array
    printf("The given array is :  ");
    for (i = 0; i < ctr; i++) {
        printf("%d  ", arr1[i]);
    }
    printf("\n");

    // Finding and displaying the pivot element
    printf("The Pivot Element in the array is : %d \n", arr1[findPivotElem(arr1, 0, ctr - 1) + 1]);

    return 0;
}

Sample Output:

The given array is :  14  23  7  9  3  6  18  22  16  36  
The Pivot Element in the array is : 3

Flowchart :

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a C program to find the pivot element in a sorted and rotated array using binary search.
Write a C program to determine the pivot index and then split the array into two sorted halves.
Write a C program to find the pivot element recursively in a rotated array.
Write a C program to locate the pivot element and then perform a search for a target element using the pivot.

C Programming Code Editor:

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