Find the 2nd largest element in an array with minimum number of comparisons

Question

For an array of size N, what is the number of comparisons required?

Answer 1

PHP version of the Gumbo algorithm: http://sandbox.onlinephpfunctions.com/code/51e1b05dac2e648fd13e0b60f44a2abe1e4a8689

$numbers = [10, 9, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7];

$largest = $numbers[0];
$secondLargest = null;
for ($i=1; $i < count($numbers); $i++) {
    $number = $numbers[$i];
    if ($number > $largest) {
        $secondLargest = $largest;
        $largest = $number;
    } else if ($number > $secondLargest) {
        $secondLargest = $number;
    }
}

echo "largest=$largest, secondLargest=$secondLargest";