Data Structures & Algorithms·Practice drills 1

Drill 3: Key term — Binary search

Identify the key term in the example and define it.

Intermediate 5 min read Lesson 33 of 300 Challenge included

What you will be able to do

Identify the key term in the example and define it.

Practice task

Identify the key term in the example and define it.

binary-search.jsJavaScript

function binarySearch(sorted, target) {
  let low = 0
  let high = sorted.length - 1

  while (low <= high) {
    const mid = Math.floor((low + high) / 2)
    if (sorted[mid] === target) return mid
    if (sorted[mid] < target) low = mid + 1
    else high = mid - 1
  }
  return -1
}

function lowerBound(sorted, target) {
  let low = 0
  let high = sorted.length
  while (low < high) {
    const mid = Math.floor((low + high) / 2)
    if (sorted[mid] < target) low = mid + 1
    else high = mid
  }
  return low
}

console.log(binarySearch([1, 3, 5, 7, 9], 7))
console.log(lowerBound([1, 3, 3, 3, 5], 3))

Your turn

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Identify the key term in the example and define it.

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Next: Drill 3: Change a value — Dynamic programming basics

Lesson 33 of 300 · 0% of course