Skip to main content

Single Element in a Sorted Array

Problem Statement

You are given a sorted array consisting of only integers where every element appears exactly twice, except for one element which appears exactly once.

Return the single element that appears only once.

Your solution must run in O(log n) time and O(1) space.

Leetcode Link

Example 1:

Input: nums = [1,1,2,3,3,4,4,8,8]
Output: 2

Example 2:

Input: nums = [3,3,7,7,10,11,11]
Output: 10

Constraints:

  • 1 <= nums.length <= 105
  • 0 <= nums[i] <= 105

Code

Python
class Solution:
def singleNonDuplicate(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:
l=0
h=len(nums)-1
while l<h:
m=2*((l+h)//4)
if nums[m]==nums[m+1]:
l=m+2
else:
h=m
return nums[l]