using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace Contest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            ABC132.B();
        }

        class ABC132
        {
            public static void A()
            {
                var S = Read.Str();
                var freq = Util.Frequency(S.ToArray());
                Console.WriteLine(freq.Count == 2 && freq.First().Value == 2 ? "Yes" : "No");
            }
            public static void B()
            {
                var N = Read.Int();
                var P = Read.IntN();
                Console.WriteLine(Enumerable.Range(1, N - 2).Where(i =>
                   (P[i - 1] < P[i] && P[i] < P[i + 1]) || (P[i - 1] > P[i] && P[i] > P[i + 1])).Count());
            }
            public static void C()
            {
                var N = Read.Int();
                var D = Read.IntN().OrderBy(x => x).ToArray();
                var d1 = D[(N - 1) / 2];
                var d2 = D[(N - 0) / 2];
                Console.WriteLine(d2 - d1);
            }
            public static void D()
            {
                var N = Read.Int();
                var K = Read.Int();
                long P = 1000000007;
                var comb = Util.Combin(N + 10, P);
                for(int i = 1; i <= K; ++i)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine((comb(K - 1, i - 1) * comb(N - K + 1, i)) % P);
                }
            }
            public static void E()
            {
                var N = Read.Int();
                var M = Read.Int();
                var Adj = Read.AdjacencyList(N, M, true);
                var S = Read.Int();
                var T = Read.Int();
                List<HashSet<int>> dist = new List<HashSet<int>>();
                dist.Add(new HashSet<int>());
                dist[0].Add(S);
                for (int d = 1; ; ++d)
                {
                    var next = new HashSet<int>();
                    dist.Add(next);
                    foreach (var v in dist[d - 1])
                    {
                        foreach (var w in Adj[v])
                        {
                            if (d % 3 == 0 && w == T) { Console.WriteLine(d / 3); return; }
                            if (!next.Contains(w) && (d < 3 || !dist[d - 3].Contains(w))) { next.Add(w); }
                        }
                    }
                    if (next.Count == 0) { Console.WriteLine(-1); return; }
                }
            }
        }




        class Util
        {
            public static long[] ASum(long[] array)
            {
                var res = new long[array.Length + 1];
                for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; ++i)
                {
                    res[i + 1] = res[i] + array[i];
                }
                return res;
            }
            public static Dictionary<T, int> Frequency<T>(T[] array)
            {
                var dict = new Dictionary<T, int>();
                foreach (var a in array)
                {
                    if (!dict.ContainsKey(a)) { dict.Add(a, 0); }
                    dict[a]++;
                }
                return dict;
            }
            public static long Inverse(long a, long p)
            {
                long b = p, c = 1, d = 0, e = 0, f = 0;
                while (b != 0)
                {
                    e = a / b;
                    f = b; b = a - e * b; a = f;
                    f = d; d = c - e * d; c = f;
                }
                c %= p;
                return c + (c < 0 ? p : 0);
            }
            public static long[] Facts(int n, long p)
            {
                var facts = new long[n + 1];
                facts[0] = 1;
                for (int i = 1; i <= n; ++i)
                {
                    facts[i] = (i * facts[i - 1]) % p;
                }
                return facts;
            }
            public static Func<int, int, long> Combin(int n, long P)
            {
                var fact = Facts(n, P);
                var inv = fact.Select(x => Inverse(x, P)).ToArray();
                return (N, M) =>
                {
                    if (N < 0 || N < M || M < 0) { return 0; }
                    return (((fact[N] * inv[M]) % P) * inv[N - M]) % P;
                };
            }

        }

        static class Read
        {
            static Queue<string> queue = new Queue<string>();
            static void Enqueue() { var ss = Console.ReadLine().Split(' '); foreach (var s in ss) { queue.Enqueue(s); } }
            public static int Int() { if (queue.Count == 0) { Enqueue(); } return Convert.ToInt32(queue.Dequeue()); }
            public static long Long() { if (queue.Count == 0) { Enqueue(); } return Convert.ToInt64(queue.Dequeue()); }
            public static string Str() { if (queue.Count == 0) { Enqueue(); } return queue.Dequeue(); }
            public static int[] IntN() { return Console.ReadLine().Split(' ').Select(s => Convert.ToInt32(s)).ToArray(); }
            public static long[] LongN() { return Console.ReadLine().Split(' ').Select(s => Convert.ToInt64(s)).ToArray(); }
            public static string[] StrN() { return Console.ReadLine().Split(' '); }
            public static Tuple<int, int>[] TupleInt(int n) { List<Tuple<int, int>> list = new List<Tuple<int, int>>(); for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) { var ab = Read.IntN(); list.Add(new Tuple<int, int>(ab[0], ab[1])); } return list.ToArray(); }
            public static Tuple<long, long>[] TupleLong(int n) { List<Tuple<long, long>> list = new List<Tuple<long, long>>(); for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) { var ab = Read.LongN(); list.Add(new Tuple<long, long>(ab[0], ab[1])); } return list.ToArray(); }
            public static Tuple<string, string>[] TupleStr(int n) { List<Tuple<string, string>> list = new List<Tuple<string, string>>(); for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) { var ab = Read.StrN(); list.Add(new Tuple<string, string>(ab[0], ab[1])); } return list.ToArray(); }
            public static Tuple<double, double>[] TupleDouble(int n) { List<Tuple<double, double>> list = new List<Tuple<double, double>>(); for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) { var ab = Read.LongN(); list.Add(new Tuple<double, double>(ab[0], ab[1])); } return list.ToArray(); }
            public static long[,] LongMatrix(int r, int c)
            {
                var mat = new long[r, c];
                for (int i = 0; i < r; ++i)
                {
                    var x = Read.LongN();
                    for (int j = 0; j < c; ++j)
                    {
                        mat[i, j] = x[j];
                    }
                }
                return mat;
            }
            public static Dictionary<int, HashSet<int>> AdjacencyList(int N, int M, bool isDirectional = false)
            {
                Dictionary<int, HashSet<int>> dict = new Dictionary<int, HashSet<int>>();
                for (int i = 0; i <= N; ++i) { dict.Add(i, new HashSet<int>()); }
                for (int i = 0; i < M; ++i)
                {
                    var ab = Read.IntN(); dict[ab[0]].Add(ab[1]);
                    if (!isDirectional) { dict[ab[1]].Add(ab[0]); }
                }
                return dict;
            }
            public static Dictionary<int, Dictionary<int, long>> AdjacencyListWithWeight(int N, int M)
            {
                Dictionary<int, Dictionary<int, long>> dict = new Dictionary<int, Dictionary<int, long>>();
                for (int i = 0; i <= N; ++i)
                {
                    dict.Add(i, new Dictionary<int, long>());
                }
                for (int i = 0; i < M; ++i)
                {
                    var ab = Read.IntN();
                    dict[ab[0]].Add(ab[1], ab[2]);
                    dict[ab[1]].Add(ab[0], ab[2]);
                }
                return dict;
            }
        }
    }
}


Measured memory_bytes: 13524