If the target value is not present in a sorted array, what will binary search re
Practice Questions
Q1
If the target value is not present in a sorted array, what will binary search return?
The index of the closest value
The index of the first element
The index of the last element
-1 or a sentinel value
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
If the target value is not present in a sorted array, what will binary search return?
Step 1: Understand that binary search is used to find a target value in a sorted array.
Step 2: If the target value is present in the array, binary search will return its index.
Step 3: If the target value is not present in the array, binary search will continue searching until it determines that the value cannot be found.
Step 4: When the search concludes that the target value is absent, it typically returns -1 or another special value (called a sentinel value) to indicate that the target is not found.
Binary Search – A search algorithm that finds the position of a target value within a sorted array by repeatedly dividing the search interval in half.
Return Values – Understanding what a search algorithm returns when the target value is not found, typically a negative value or a specific sentinel.
