Thread: Finding the mode of an array

One way would be to loop through the numbers in the array and put them into a map<int,int> container where the key stores the number from the input array and the value represents the number of times that value has occured so far. Each time you add a key to the map, you increment its associated value. What results is essentially a sorted array (sorted by key) that stores the frequency, i.e. number of occurances, that a particular value has occured in the input array. You could then search through this map looking for the key that had the highest value.

Declaring the map variable and initializing it with the input array will take 2-3 lines of code. Performing the search and returning the key with the highest found value will take another half-dozen lines of code.

You do realize there is a much easier way to solve this problem rather than using containers?

hmm, now i have something to do..im gonna see if i can do this.

wouldn't sorting it be a good idea?

alright, it uses 2 vectors, this was the best i can come up with for now, im kinda tired lol.

it just makes 2 parallel vectors, 1 holding the numbers, and one holding the counter. the main loop just searches the first list against itself, finding duplicates..

so if the list is

Code:

5   2
0   1 
1   1 
5   2

the left column being the list of numbers, the right column being the number of those numbers found..like it found two 5s and one 0 and one 1. then the last loop just searches the right column for the largest value of n, and in a case like this it shouldnt matter if it picks the first 5 or the second, since both of their right column counts will be the same. i hope that makes sense

i was also originally going to use arrays but i couldnt get them to cooperate, silly VC

edit: ignore the "bool found;" you can just delete that, i was trying out a different method before i came up with this one

If any of you have the Deitel C++ How to Program text: Pages 278-282 has a program that finds the mean median and mode.

Code:

void mode(int freq[], int ans[], int size)

not that hard!

What if you had a lot of numbers - you could have a very large switch statement. The loop will do it with short code.

This is what I was talking about:

Code:

#include <map>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int mode(int array[], int size)
{
    // Create and load map container from input array

    map<int,int> IntMap;
    for( int a = 0; a < size; ++a ) IntMap[array[a]]++;

    // Find maximum value in map.

    map<int,int>::iterator it = IntMap.begin();
    int max = it->first;
    for( ; it != IntMap.end(); ++it )
        if( IntMap[it->first] > IntMap[max] ) max = it->first;

    return max;
}

int main()
{
    int data[] = { 3, 4, 7, 2, 6, 9, 4, 8, 4 };
    cout << "Mode is " << mode(data,sizeof(data)/sizeof(data[0])) << endl;
    return 0;
}

Outputs: Mode is 4

The map serves the same function as the arrays and vector containers mentioned by the Wookie and Jamsan. What's not easy about that?

The basic logic looks OK but I do see a potential issue with the counters array not being initialized.

Code:

void modemedian(int *array, int &mode, int &median)
{
    int temp;
    int tempb = 0;
    int tempc = 0; // Extra variable, not needed, see below
    int counters[21];
    median = array[10];
   
    //Mode section
    for(int i=0;i<21;i++)
    {
        counters[i] = 0; // Make sure you initialize the counter
                         // before attemtping to increment unknown values
        for(int j=0;j<21;j++)
        {
            if (array[i]==array[j])
                counters[i]++;
        }
    }
   
    cout << "Number of hits per number: ";   //I put this here just so i could see what the counter array was getting
    //My compiler would have "issues" with using the same variable "i"
    // at this spot so I changed it
    for(int k=0;k<21;k++)
        cout << counters[k] << " "; 
    cout << endl;
    
    // Again, use of "i" variable here would cause me "issues"
    // with my compiler so I changed it.
    for(int l=0;l<21;l++)
    {
        if (counters[l]>tempb)
        {
            tempb=counters[l];
            //tempc = i; // Not needed...
            mode = array[l]; // Use this instead
        }
    }
    //mode=array[tempc]; // Not needed, replaced above
    //end mode section
}

Other than that, it looks like it should work.

This seems like the easiest solution:

Code:

int mode(int* array, int size)
{
	int largestNum = 0, largestCount = 0;

	int* upperLimit = std::max_element(&array[0], &array[size]);
	int* lowerLimit = std::min_element(&array[0], &array[size]);
	for (int i = *lowerLimit; i <= *upperLimit; ++i)
	{
		int currentCount = std::count(&array[0], &array[size], i);
		if (currentCount > largestCount)
		{
			largestCount = currentCount;
			largestNum = i;
		}
	}
	return largestNum;
}