What happens if binary search is applied to a linked list?
Practice Questions
Q1
What happens if binary search is applied to a linked list?
It works efficiently
It cannot be applied
It works but is inefficient
It requires additional data structures
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What happens if binary search is applied to a linked list?
Step 1: Understand what binary search is. It is a method to find an item in a sorted list by repeatedly dividing the search interval in half.
Step 2: Know that binary search requires random access to elements, meaning you can quickly jump to any position in the list.
Step 3: Recognize that a linked list is a data structure where each element points to the next one, and you cannot jump directly to the middle element.
Step 4: Realize that to find the middle element in a linked list, you have to start from the beginning and go through each element one by one, which takes time.
Step 5: Conclude that because linked lists do not allow for quick access to elements, binary search is not efficient on them.
