Identifying the binary search pattern
The binary search algorithm is one of the most powerful search algorithms that is used to solve many types of search and optimisation problems involving a sorted search space. These are generally easy or medium problems where we need to search for a value in a sorted sequence. Most of the time, searching is often a subproblem within a larger, more complex problem.
Binary search is used to search for a value in a sorted search space.
If the problem statement or its solution follows the generic template below, it can be solved by applying the binary search algorithm.
Given a sorted search space and a target value, find the target value.
Example
Let's consider the following problem as an example to better understand how to identify and solve a problem using the binary search algorithm.
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