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?

What is the runtime of an algorithm that sorts n strings?

No actual code needed. Please provide pseudo code for the binary search and find the runtime (big-O) of the algorithm.

Answer 1

A binary search algorithm can be used to find a specific string x in a sorted list of strings. The runtime complexity of the binary search algorithm is logarithmic, O(log n). The runtime complexity of sorting n strings depends on the specific sorting algorithm used.

Step-by-step explanation:

A binary search algorithm can be used to find a specific string x in a sorted list of strings. Pseudo code for the algorithm is as follows:

1. Set the left pointer to the beginning of the list (0) and the right pointer to the end of the list (length - 1).
2. Repeat the following steps until the left pointer is greater than the right pointer:
   1. Calculate the middle index by taking the average of the left and right pointers.
   2. If the middle element equals x, return the index.
   3. If the middle element is less than x, update the left pointer to middle + 1.
   4. If the middle element is greater than x, update the right pointer to middle - 1.

The runtime complexity of the binary search algorithm is logarithmic, which is denoted as O(log n), where n is the length of the sorted list. This means that as the size of the list increases, the number of operations grows at a slower rate.

The runtime complexity of an algorithm that sorts n strings depends on the sorting algorithm used. For example, the merge sort algorithm has a runtime complexity of O(n log n), while the bubble sort algorithm has a runtime complexity of O(n^2). So, the actual runtime of sorting n strings will depend on the specific sorting algorithm implemented.