Cranes at VIIT Q6

Find the Most Frequent Element in an Array

Write a C program that finds the most frequent element in an array.

Problem Statement:

• Given an array of integers, determine the element that occurs the most frequently.
• If multiple elements have the same highest frequency, return the smallest element among them.

Input Format:

• n: An integer representing the number of elements in the array.
• n space-separated integers representing the elements of the array.

Output Format:

• Print the most frequent element in the array.

Example Inputs & Outputs:

Enter the number of elements: 7
Enter the elements: 1 3 2 3 4 1 3
Most frequent element: 3
            

Enter the number of elements: 5
Enter the elements: 5 1 5 1 2
Most frequent element: 1
            

Constraints:

• 1 ≤ n ≤ 1000
• -10⁵ ≤ array[i] ≤ 10⁵

Hint:

To solve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Store Frequencies:
   • Create an array or a map to store the frequency of each element.
   • Traverse the input array and increment the frequency of each element.
2. Find Maximum Frequency:
   • Traverse the frequency array/map to find the element with the highest frequency.
3. Check for Multiple Maximums:
   • If multiple elements have the same highest frequency, choose the smallest element.
4. Print the Result:
   • Print the element with the highest frequency or the smallest among elements with equal frequency.

Formula Breakdown:

• Increment Frequency Count:

  freq[arr[i] + offset]++;
                      

  Note: offset is used to handle negative values.

• Check for Most Frequent Element:

  if (freq[arr[i] + offset] > max_freq)
                      

• Resolve Ties by Smallest Element:

  if (freq[arr[i] + offset] == max_freq && arr[i] < result)
                      

Task: Implement the above logic and write a C program to find the most frequent element in an array.