Day 26 || Find Peak Element || leetCode 162 || DSA live with me || binary search

Medium Topics premium lock icon Companies A peak element is an element that is strictly greater than its neighbors. Given a 0-indexed integer array nums, find a peak element, and return its index. If the array contains multiple peaks, return the index to any of the peaks. You may imagine that nums[-1] = nums[n] = -∞. In other words, an element is always considered to be strictly greater than a neighbor that is outside the array. You must write an algorithm that runs in O(log n) time. Problem Walkthrough: Find Peak Element (LeetCode 162) 00:04:32 - Problem Explanation Understand the concept of a "Peak Element" (an element strictly greater than its neighbors) using clear visual examples. 00:12:46 - The O(log n) Intuition Learn why the problem's time complexity requirement is a direct hint to use Binary Search instead of a linear approach. 00:28:49 - Java Code Implementation A step-by-step walkthrough of setting up the Binary Search logic, including pointer initialization and mid-calculation. 00:41:00 - Binary Search Logic Detailed explanation on how to determine the search direction by comparing the middle element with its neighbor. 01:02:26 - Troubleshooting & Debugging A live fix for a common "Index Out of Bounds" error, explaining why adjusting the loop condition is necessary. 01:10:04 - Solution Submission The final code execution and successful submission on LeetCode, verifying the logic against all test cases.