What happens if the binary search algorithm is applied to an unsorted array?
Practice Questions
Q1
What happens if the binary search algorithm is applied to an unsorted array?
It will still find the target
It will return an error
It may return incorrect results
It will sort the array first
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What happens if the binary search algorithm is applied to an unsorted array?
Step 1: Understand what binary search is. It is an algorithm that finds the position of a target value within a sorted array.
Step 2: Know that binary search works by repeatedly dividing the search interval in half.
Step 3: Realize that for binary search to work, the array must be sorted in a specific order (either ascending or descending).
Step 4: If you apply binary search to an unsorted array, the algorithm will not be able to correctly determine where the target value is located.
Step 5: This is because the algorithm relies on the order of elements to eliminate half of the search space each time, which is not possible in an unsorted array.
Step 6: As a result, binary search may return an incorrect index or indicate that the target value is not present when it actually is.
