Searching Algorithms Questions Medium
Binary search is a searching algorithm that is used to find a specific target value within a sorted array or list. It works by repeatedly dividing the search space in half until the target value is found or determined to be not present.
The algorithm starts by comparing the target value with the middle element of the array. If they are equal, the search is successful and the index of the target value is returned. If the target value is less than the middle element, the search continues on the left half of the array. If the target value is greater than the middle element, the search continues on the right half of the array.
This process is repeated until the target value is found or the search space is reduced to zero. If the search space becomes empty and the target value is still not found, it means that the target value is not present in the array.
Binary search has a time complexity of O(log n), where n is the number of elements in the array. This makes it a very efficient searching algorithm, especially for large sorted arrays. However, it requires the array to be sorted beforehand, which can be a drawback in some cases.
Overall, binary search is a powerful and widely used algorithm for quickly finding a specific value in a sorted array.