Question

Suppose BinarySearch is used to search the list (14,26,42,59,71,88,92) for key 88 What is the first middle element that is compared against 88 ?

a)42
b)59
c)71
d)88

Answer 1

BinarySearch begins by comparing the key value 88 with the middle element of the list, which is the fourth element, value 59.

Step-by-step explanation:

If we apply BinarySearch to the sorted list (14, 26, 42, 59, 71, 88, 92) and search for the key value 88, the process will start by comparing the key with the middle element of the list. The BinarySearch algorithm is used to search a sorted list for a specific element efficiently. In this case, the list is (14, 26, 42, 59, 71, 88, 92) and the key is 88. The algorithm starts by comparing the middle element, which is 59, with the key. Since 88 is greater than 59, the algorithm continues searching in the right half of the list.

The list has seven elements, so the middle position is the fourth element (since the middle position is obtained by ½(n+1) where n is the number of elements). The first middle element compared against the key 88 would therefore be at the fourth position, which is the value 59.