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That will give you the median value. What OP wants is the value `a` clamped within `min` and `max`.

Can you give an example where median([a, min, max]) is not equal to clamp(a, min, max), given max >= min?

If a < min or a > max, if I'm reading it right.

You can prove that this algorithm works for both of those cases. Assuming min <= max:

If a < min, then the sorted array is [a, min, max]. The median is min, which is a clamped to min.

If a > max, then the sorted array is [min, max, a]. The median is max, which is a clamped to max.