Learn how repeatedly cutting possibilities in half finds answers incredibly fast
Part of Search & Sort Algorithms
Educational content slides
Searching 100 items:
Searching 1,000,000 items:
Every step eliminates half the remaining data. That's why your phone finds contacts instantly even with thousands of names.
Test your understanding with this quiz.
You're debugging code with 512 lines. You know the bug is somewhere in there. Using binary search strategy (test middle, then narrow down), how many times do you need to test sections?
Complete this exercise and get AI-powered feedback.
Binary search thinking appears everywhere - debugging, finding pages, adjusting settings, even playing guessing games.
Example: You're finding the right font size for a poster. Start at 72pt (too big), try 36pt (too small), try 54pt (close!), try 63pt (perfect). Four tries instead of testing 72, 71, 70, 69...