#include <atcoder/all>
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
using namespace atcoder;
#define rep(i, n) REP(i, 0, n)
#define REP(i, s, e) for (int i = (s); i < (int)(e); i++)
#define repr(i, n) REPR(i, n, 0)
#define REPR(i, s, e) for (int i = (int)(s - 1); i >= (int)(e); i--)
#define all(r) r.begin(), r.end()
#define rall(r) r.rbegin(), r.rend()

typedef long long ll;
typedef vector<int> vi;
typedef vector<ll> vl;

template <typename T, typename U>
T chmax(T& a, const U& b) {
    if (a >= b) return false;
    a = b;
    return true;
}
template <typename T, typename U>
T chmin(T& a, const U& b) {
    if (a <= b) return false;
    a = b;
    return true;
}

void yes_no(bool f, string yes = "Yes", string no = "No") { cout << (f ? yes : no) << "\n"; }

void solve() {
    int n;
    cin >> n;
    vi a(n);
    rep(i, n) cin >> a[i];
    int ans = 0;
    rep(i, n - 2) {
        vi x{a[i], a[i + 1], a[i + 2]};
        vi y = x;
        sort(all(y));
        if (x == y) continue;
        reverse(all(y));
        if (x == y) continue;
        set<int> s(all(x));
        if (s.size() != 3) continue;

        ++ans;
    }
    cout << ans << "\n";
}

int main() {
    cin.tie(0);
    ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
    int t = 1;
    // multi-testcase
    // cin >> t;
    rep(ti, t) solve();
    return 0;
}