#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
#include <cmath>
#include <vector>
#include <complex>
#include <queue>
#include <deque>
#include <set>
#include <map>
#include <unordered_set>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <iomanip>
#include <assert.h>
#include <array>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstring>
#include <random>
#include <functional>
#include <numeric>
#include <bitset>

using namespace std;

#define REP(i,a,b) for(int i=a;i<(int)b;i++)
#define rep(i,n) REP(i,0,n)
#define all(c) (c).begin(), (c).end()
#define zero(a) memset(a, 0, sizeof a)
#define minus(a) memset(a, -1, sizeof a)
#define minimize(a, x) a = std::min(a, x)
#define maximize(a, x) a = std::max(a, x)

typedef long long ll;
int const inf = 1<<29;

int main() {

  int N; cin >> N;
  int A[N]; rep(i, N) cin >> A[i];
  int ans = 0;
  REP(i, 2, N) {
    if(A[i-2]<A[i-1]&&A[i-1]<A[i])continue;
    if(A[i-2]>A[i-1]&&A[i-1]>A[i])continue;
    if(A[i-2]==A[i-1]||A[i-1]==A[i]||A[i-2]==A[i])continue;
    ans ++;
  }
  cout << ans << endl;

  return 0;
}