//#pragma GCC optimize ("-O3")
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
#include <vector>
#include <stack>
#include <cstdio>
#include <string>
#include <bitset>
#include <list>
#include <set>
#include <algorithm>
#include <numeric>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <functional>
#include <queue>
#include <regex>
#include <cassert>
#include <map>
#include <type_traits>
#include <array>
#include <cassert>
#include <typeinfo>
#include <time.h>
#include <iomanip>
#include <random>
#include <sstream>
#ifdef _MSC_VER
#include <intrin.h>
#define popcnt __popcnt64
//#  define __builtin_popcount __popcnt
#else
#define popcnt __builtin_popcountll
#endif
//#include "boost/variant.hpp"



using namespace std;

typedef long long ll;
constexpr ll MOD = 1000000007;
constexpr ll INF = 1LL << 60;

#define rep(i, N, M) for(ll i=N, i##_len=(M); i<i##_len; ++i)
#define rep_skip(i, N, M, ...) for(ll i=N, i##_len=(M); i<i##_len; i+=(skip))
#define rrep(i, N, M)  for(ll i=(M)-1, i##_len=(N-1); i>i##_len; --i)
#define pb push_back
#define fir first
#define sec second

typedef pair<double, double> pd;
typedef pair<ll, ll> pll;

template<int n>
struct tll_impl {
	using type = decltype(tuple_cat(tuple<ll>(), declval<typename tll_impl<n - 1>::type>()));
};
template<>
struct tll_impl<1> {
	using type = tuple<ll>;
};
template<int n>
using tll = typename tll_impl<n>::type;

template<class T>
constexpr ll SZ(T& v) { return static_cast<ll>(v.size()); };

template<int n, typename T>
struct vec_t_impl {
	using type = vector<typename vec_t_impl<n-1,T>::type>;
};
template<typename T>
struct vec_t_impl<1,T> {
	using type = vector<T>;
};
template<int n, typename T>
using vec_t = typename vec_t_impl<n, T>::type;
// check 
static_assert(is_same<vec_t<3,ll>, vector<vector<vector<ll>>>>::value, "");

// decompose vector into basetype and dimension.
template<typename T> 
struct vec_dec {
	static constexpr int dim = 0;
	using type  = T;
};
template<typename T>
struct vec_dec<vector<T>> {
	static constexpr int dim = vec_dec<T>::dim+1;
	using type  = typename vec_dec<T>::type;
};
static_assert(is_same<typename vec_dec<vec_t<3, ll>>::type, ll>::value, "");
static_assert(vec_dec<vec_t<3, ll>>::dim == 3, "");

template<typename T = ll>
vector<T> makev(size_t a) { return vector<T>(a); }

template<typename T = ll, typename... Ts>
auto makev(size_t a, Ts... ts) {
	return vector<decltype(makev<T>(ts...))>(a, makev<T>(ts...));
}
// ex:  auto dp =  makev<ll>(4,5) => vector<vector<ll>> dp(4,vector<ll>(5));

// check if T is vector
template < typename T >
struct is_vector : std::false_type {};

template < typename T >
struct is_vector<vector<T>> : std::true_type {};
static_assert(is_vector<vector<ll>>::value == true && is_vector<ll>::value == false, "");

// check if T is vector
template < typename T>
struct is_pair : std::false_type {};

template < typename T, typename S >
struct is_pair<pair<T, S>> : std::true_type {};
static_assert(is_pair<pll>::value == true && is_pair<ll>::value == false, "");

template<typename T, typename V, typename enable_if<!is_vector<T>::value, nullptr_t>::type = nullptr>
void fill_v(T& t, const V& v) { t = v; }

template<typename T, typename V, typename enable_if<is_vector<T>::value, nullptr_t>::type = nullptr>
void fill_v(T& t, const V& v) {
	for (auto &&x : t)
		fill_v(x, v);
}
// ex:  fill_v(dp, INF);

template<typename T, typename enable_if < !is_vector<T>::value && !is_pair<T>::value, nullptr_t > ::type = nullptr >
void read(T& x) {	cin >> x;}

template<typename T, typename enable_if<is_pair<T>::value, nullptr_t>::type = nullptr>
void read(T& x) { read(x.first); read(x.second); }

template<typename T, typename enable_if<is_vector<T>::value, nullptr_t>::type = nullptr>
void read(T& x) { rep(i,0,x.size()) read(x[i]); }

template<typename T, typename Delim_t = string, typename enable_if<!is_vector<T>::value, nullptr_t>::type = nullptr>
void write(T & x, Delim_t delim = " ") { cout << x << delim; }

template<typename T, typename Delim_t = string, typename enable_if<is_vector<T>::value, nullptr_t>::type = nullptr>
void write(T& x, Delim_t delim = " ") { rep(i, 0, x.size()) write(x[i], (i == (x.size() - 1) ? "" : delim)); cout << '\n'; }

typedef vector<ll> vll;
typedef vector<vll> vvll;
typedef vector<pll> vpll;
typedef vector<bool> vb;
typedef vector<vb> vvb;
typedef vector<string> vs;
template<typename T>
using pq_greater = priority_queue<T, vector<T>, greater<T>>;


#define all(a)  (a).begin(),(a).end()
#define rall(a) (a).rbegin(), (a).rend()
#define perm(c) sort(all(c));for(bool c##perm=1;c##perm;c##perm=next_permutation(all(c)))

template<typename T> void chmin(T &a, T b) {
	if (a > b) a = b;
}
template<typename T> void chmax(T &a, T b) {
	if (a < b) a = b;
}

vll seq(ll i, ll j) {
	vll res(j - i);
	rep(k, i, j) res[k] = i + k;
	return res;
}

constexpr ll POW_0(ll x, ll y) {
	if (y == 0)return 1;
	if (y == 1)return x ;
	if (y == 2)return x * x ;
	if (y % 2 == 0)return POW_0(POW_0(x, y / 2), 2LL);
	return ((POW_0(POW_0(x, y / 2), 2LL)) * (x)) ;
}

constexpr ll POW(ll x, ll y, ll mod = MOD) {
	if (mod == 0)return POW_0(x, y);
	if (y == 0)return 1;
	if (y == 1)return x % mod;
	if (y == 2)return x * x % mod;
	if (y % 2 == 0)return POW(POW(x, y / 2, mod), 2LL, mod) % mod;
	return ((POW(POW(x, y / 2, mod), 2LL, mod)) * (x % mod)) % mod;
}

template<
	typename Inputs,
	typename Functor,
	typename T = typename Inputs::value_type>
	void sort_by(Inputs& inputs, Functor f) {
	std::sort(std::begin(inputs), std::end(inputs),
		[&f](const T& lhs, const T& rhs) { return f(lhs) < f(rhs); });
}

template<
	typename Inputs,
	typename Functor,
	typename T = typename Inputs::value_type>
	void stable_sort_by(Inputs& inputs, Functor f) {
	std::stable_sort(std::begin(inputs), std::end(inputs),
		[&f](const T& lhs, const T& rhs) { return f(lhs) < f(rhs); });
}

template<typename Inputs>
void sort_uniq(Inputs& inputs) {
	sort(all(inputs));
	inputs.erase(unique(all(inputs)), inputs.end());
}

vector<string> split(const string& s, char delim) {
	vector<string> elems;
	stringstream ss(s);
	string item;
	while (getline(ss, item, delim)) {
		if (!item.empty()) {
			elems.push_back(item);
		}
	}
	return elems;
}










// ============================ Header  =================================


int main() {
	cin.tie(0);
	ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
	cout << fixed << setprecision(12);
	
	ll n;
	cin>> n;
	vll p(n);
	read(p);
	ll cnt=0;
	rep(i,0,n-2){
		if((min(p[i], p[i+2])< p[i+1]) &&( p[i+1] < max(p[i], p[i+2])))
			cnt++;
	}
	cout<< cnt<<endl;

	return 0;

}


Measured memory_bytes: 256