Which term can be described as a method that searches a sorted list by halving the search range each time?

Which term can be described as a method that searches a sorted list by halving the search range each time?

• A. Heuristic solution
• B. Linear Algorithm
• C. Merge Sort
• D. Binary Search

Answer: (D)

Binary search is the method described. It starts by looking at the middle element of the current range and compares it to the target. If the middle element matches, you’ve found it. If the target is smaller, you discard the right half and continue on the left; if larger, you discard the left half and continue on the right. Each step cuts the remaining search space roughly in half, making it highly efficient for sorted lists. The performance grows logarithmically with the list size, O(log n), because you halve the amount of data you need to examine with each comparison. This approach works best when you can access elements quickly by index; it’s less efficient on linked lists since finding the middle requires traversing nodes. Other terms don’t describe this halving-search behavior: a linear algorithm checks elements one by one, a heuristic solution isn’t guaranteed to optimize the search in this way, and merge sort is a sorting process, not a searching method.

Binary search is the method described. It starts by looking at the middle element of the current range and compares it to the target. If the middle element matches, you’ve found it. If the target is smaller, you discard the right half and continue on the left; if larger, you discard the left half and continue on the right. Each step cuts the remaining search space roughly in half, making it highly efficient for sorted lists. The performance grows logarithmically with the list size, O(log n), because you halve the amount of data you need to examine with each comparison. This approach works best when you can access elements quickly by index; it’s less efficient on linked lists since finding the middle requires traversing nodes. Other terms don’t describe this halving-search behavior: a linear algorithm checks elements one by one, a heuristic solution isn’t guaranteed to optimize the search in this way, and merge sort is a sorting process, not a searching method.