Missing Element in Sorted Array | Dataford Interview Questions

A Luxoft India vehicle telemetry component receives a sorted array containing distinct integers from an inclusive range, but exactly one value is missing. Given the array and the range boundaries, return the missing integer without scanning every element.

Use binary search to locate the first index where the actual value differs from the expected consecutive value.

Formal Specification

Implement missing_element(nums, start, end), where nums is a sorted list of distinct integers from start through end with exactly one value removed. Return the missing integer. The range contains at least two values, so nums contains at least one value.

Constraints

2 <= end - start + 1 <= 10^6
len(nums) == end - start
start <= nums[i] <= end
nums is sorted in strictly increasing order
Exactly one value is missing

Function Signature

def missing_element(nums, start, end):

Your question is Missing Element in Sorted Array. Start with the requirements in the Question tab.

Run and submit as often as you like. When you're ready, talk me through your approach or go straight to the code.

Problem