using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Numerics;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using static System.Console;
using static System.Math;
using static Func;
class Z { static void Main() => new K(); }
class K
{
	int F => int.Parse(Str);
	long FL => long.Parse(Str);
	int[] G => Strs.Select(int.Parse).ToArray();
	uint[] GU => Strs.Select(uint.Parse).ToArray();
	decimal[] GD => Strs.Select(decimal.Parse).ToArray();
	long[] GL => Strs.Select(long.Parse).ToArray();
	string Str => ReadLine();
	string[] Strs => Str.Split(new char[] { ' ', '\t' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
	static ulong One(int k) => 1ul << k;
	static ulong All(int k) => One(k) - 1;
	static bool Has(ulong s, int k) => (s & One(k)) != 0;
	const int MOD = 1000000007;
	public K()
	{
		SetOut(new StreamWriter(OpenStandardOutput()) { AutoFlush = false });
		Solve();
		Out.Flush();
	}
	void Solve()
	{
		var N = F;
		var p = G;
		var c = 0;
		for (var i = 1; i + 1 < N; i++) if (new SortedSet<int> { p[i - 1], p[i], p[i + 1] }.ToList()[1] == p[i]) c++;
		WriteLine(c);
	}
}
static class Func
{
	static T[] ConstantArray<T>(int n, T val) { var a = new T[n]; for (var i = 0; i < n; i++) a[i] = val; return a; }
	static T[] MakeArray<T>(int n, Func<int, T> f) { var a = new T[n]; for (var i = 0; i < n; i++) a[i] = f(i); return a; }
	static T[] Recurse<T>(int n, T a0, Func<int, T, T> f) { var a = new T[n]; a[0] = a0; for (var i = 1; i < n; i++) a[i] = f(i, a[i - 1]); return a; }
	static T[] Accumulate<T>(IList<T> a, T zero, Func<T, T, T> f) { var s = new T[a.Count + 1]; s[0] = zero; for (var i = 0; i < a.Count; i++) s[i + 1] = f(s[i], a[i]); return s; }
	public static long GCD(long a, long b)
	{
		var n = (ulong)Math.Abs(a); var m = (ulong)Math.Abs(b);
		if (n == 0) return (long)m; if (m == 0) return (long)n;
		int zm = 0, zn = 0;
		while ((n & 1) == 0) { n >>= 1; zn++; }
		while ((m & 1) == 0) { m >>= 1; zm++; }
		while (m != n)
		{
			if (m > n) { m -= n; while ((m & 1) == 0) m >>= 1; }
			else { n -= m; while ((n & 1) == 0) n >>= 1; }
		}
		return (long)n << Math.Min(zm, zn);
	}
	public static long Inverse(long a, long mod)
	{
		if (a < 0) { a %= mod; if (a < 0) a += mod; }
		var t = SolveLinear(a, mod);
		return t.Item1 > 0 ? t.Item1 : t.Item1 + mod;
	}
	public static long Pow(long a, long b, long mod)
	{
		var p = 1L;
		var x = a;
		while (b > 0)
		{
			if ((b & 1) == 1) p = (p * x) % mod;
			b >>= 1;
			x = (x * x) % mod;
		}
		return p;
	}
	public static Tuple<long, long> SolveLinear(long n, long m)
	{
		if (n < 0) { var p = SolveLinear(-n, m); return p == null ? p : new Tuple<long, long>(-p.Item1, p.Item2); }
		if (m < 0) { var p = SolveLinear(n, -m); return p == null ? p : new Tuple<long, long>(p.Item1, -p.Item2); }
		if (n < m) { var p = SolveLinear(m, n); return p == null ? p : new Tuple<long, long>(p.Item2, p.Item1); }
		long a = 1, b = 0, c = 0, d = 1;
		while (m > 0)
		{
			var r = n % m;
			var q = n / m;
			n = m;
			m = r;
			var tmp = a;
			a = -a * q + b;
			b = tmp;
			tmp = c;
			c = -c * q + d;
			d = tmp;
		}
		return n != 1 ? null : new Tuple<long, long>(d, b);
	}
}


Measured memory_bytes: 13652