What is the worst-case time complexity for searching an element in a sorted arra

Practice Questions

Q1
What is the worst-case time complexity for searching an element in a sorted array using binary search?
  1. O(n)
  2. O(log n)
  3. O(n log n)
  4. O(1)

Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions

What is the worst-case time complexity for searching an element in a sorted array using binary search?
  • Step 1: Understand that binary search is a method used to find an element in a sorted array.
  • Step 2: Know that binary search works by repeatedly dividing the search interval in half.
  • Step 3: Realize that in each step, the algorithm compares the target element to the middle element of the array.
  • Step 4: If the target element is equal to the middle element, the search is complete.
  • Step 5: If the target element is less than the middle element, the search continues in the left half of the array.
  • Step 6: If the target element is greater than the middle element, the search continues in the right half of the array.
  • Step 7: Each time the search interval is halved, which reduces the number of elements to search through.
  • Step 8: The process continues until the element is found or the interval is empty.
  • Step 9: The number of times you can halve the array is logarithmic in relation to the number of elements, hence the time complexity is O(log n).
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