Question

provide binary search algorithm that takes a sorted list of strings and finds a specific string x. what is the runtime of your algorithm?

Answer 1

The binary search algorithm is used to find a specific string in a sorted list of strings. It has a time complexity of O(log n), making it very efficient for large input sizes.

Step-by-step explanation:

The binary search algorithm is used to find a specific string in a sorted list of strings. It works by repeatedly dividing the search space in half until the target string is found or the search space is empty. Here is an example of how the binary search algorithm can be implemented in Python:

def binary_search(arr, x):
low = 0
high = len(arr) - 1

while low <= high:
mid = (low + high) // 2
if arr[mid] == x:
return mid
elif arr[mid] < x:
low = mid + 1
else:
high = mid - 1

return -1

The runtime of the binary search algorithm is O(log n), where n is the size of the input list. This means that the algorithm has a logarithmic time complexity, which is very efficient for large input sizes.