#include <bits/stdc++.h>

using namespace std;

typedef long long ll;
typedef pair<ll, ll> P;
typedef pair<int, int> Pi;
typedef vector<ll> Vec;
typedef vector<int> Vi;
typedef vector<string> Vs;
typedef vector<P> VP;
typedef vector<vector<ll>> VV;
typedef vector<vector<int>> VVi;
typedef vector<vector<vector<ll>>> VVV;
typedef vector<vector<vector<vector<ll>>>> VVVV;

#define REP(i, a, b) for(ll i=(a); i<(b); i++)
#define PER(i, a, b) for(ll i=(a); i>=(b); i--)
#define rep(i, n) REP(i, 0, n)
#define per(i, n) PER(i, n, 0)
const ll INF=1e18+18;
const ll MAX=100005;
const ll MOD=1000000007;
#define Yes(n) cout << ((n) ? "Yes" : "No") << endl;
#define YES(n) cout << ((n) ? "YES" : "NO") << endl;
#define ALL(v) v.begin(), v.end()
#define rALL(v) v.rbegin(), v.rend()
#define pb(x) push_back(x)
#define mp(a, b) make_pair(a,b)
#define Each(a,b) for(auto &a :b)
#define REPM(i, mp) for (auto i = mp.begin(); i != mp.end(); ++i)
#ifdef LOCAL
#define dbg(x_) cerr << #x_ << ":" << x_ << endl;
#define dbgmap(mp) cerr << #mp << ":"<<endl; for (auto i = mp.begin(); i != mp.end(); ++i) { cerr << i->first <<":"<<i->second << endl;}
#define dbgarr(n,m,arr) rep(i,n){rep(j,m){cerr<<arr[i][j]<<" ";}cerr<<endl;}
#define dbgdp(n,arr) rep(i,n){cerr<<arr[i]<<" ";}cerr<<endl;
#define dbgmint(n,arr) rep(i,n){cerr<<arr[i].x<<" ";}cerr<<endl;
#define dbgarrmint(n,m,arr) rep(i,n){rep(j,m){cerr<<arr[i][j].x<<" ";}cerr<<endl;}
#else
#define dbg(...) 42
#define dbgmap(...) 42
#define dbgarr(...) 42
#define dbgdp(...) 42
#define dbgmint(...) 42
#define dbgarrmint(...) 42
#endif
#define out(a) cout<<a<<endl
#define out2(a,b) cout<<a<<" "<<b<<endl
#define vout(v) rep(i,v.size()){cout<<v[i]<<" ";}cout<<endl
#define Uniq(v) v.erase(unique(v.begin(), v.end()), v.end())
#define fi first
#define se second

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

template<typename T1, typename T2>
ostream &operator<<(ostream &s, const pair<T1, T2> &p) { return s<<"("<<p.first<<", "<<p.second<<")"; }

template<typename T>istream& operator>>(istream&i,vector<T>&v)
{rep(j,v.size())i>>v[j];return i;}

// vector
template<typename T>
ostream &operator<<(ostream &s, const vector<T> &v) {
    int len=v.size();
    for(int i=0; i<len; ++i) {
        s<<v[i];
        if(i<len-1) s<<" ";
    }
    return s;
}

// 2 dimentional vector
template<typename T>
ostream &operator<<(ostream &s, const vector<vector<T> > &vv) {
    int len=vv.size();
    for(int i=0; i<len; ++i) {
        s<<vv[i]<<endl;
    }
    return s;
}


//mint
struct mint {
    ll x; // typedef long long ll;
    mint(ll x=0):x((x%MOD+MOD)%MOD){}
    mint& operator+=(const mint a) {
        if ((x += a.x) >= MOD) x -= MOD;
        return *this;
    }
    mint& operator-=(const mint a) {
        if ((x += MOD-a.x) >= MOD) x -= MOD;
        return *this;
    }
    mint& operator*=(const mint a) {
        (x *= a.x) %= MOD;
        return *this;
    }
    mint operator+(const mint a) const {
        mint res(*this);
        return res+=a;
    }
    mint operator-(const mint a) const {
        mint res(*this);
        return res-=a;
    }
    mint operator*(const mint a) const {
        mint res(*this);
        return res*=a;
    }
    mint pow(ll t) const {
        if (!t) return 1;
        mint a = pow(t>>1);
        a *= a;
        if (t&1) a *= *this;
        return a;
    }

    // for prime MOD
    mint inv() const {
        return pow(MOD-2);
    }
    mint& operator/=(const mint a) {
        return (*this) *= a.inv();
    }
    mint operator/(const mint a) const {
        mint res(*this);
        return res/=a;
    }
};

struct combination {
    vector<mint> fact, ifact;
    combination(int n):fact(n+1),ifact(n+1) {
        assert(n < MOD);
        fact[0] = 1;
        for (int i = 1; i <= n; ++i) fact[i] = fact[i-1]*i;
        ifact[n] = fact[n].inv();
        for (int i = n; i >= 1; --i) ifact[i-1] = ifact[i]*i;
    }
    mint operator()(int n, int k) {
        if (k < 0 || k > n) return 0;
        return fact[n]*ifact[k]*ifact[n-k];
    }
};

int main() {
    cin.tie(0);
    ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
    cout<<std::setprecision(10);

    ll n;
    cin>>n;
    ll ans=0;
    vector<ll> p(n);
    for(ll i=0; i<n; i++) {
    	cin>>p[i];
    }
    for(ll i=1; i<n-1; i++) {
        if((p[i]>p[i-1] && p[i]<p[i+1]) ||
           (p[i]<p[i-1] && p[i]>p[i+1])) {
            ans += 1;
        }
    }

    cout<<ans<<endl;
    return  0;
}


Measured memory_bytes: 256