When does the worst case in binary search occur?
A) When the object to be searched is in the middle of the list
B) When the object to be searched is at the end of the list
C) When the object to be searched is at the beginning of the list
D) When the object to be searched is not in the list

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The worst case in binary search occurs when the object to be searched is not in the list because in every iteration half of the remaining elements are eliminated, and if the element is not present in the list, the search will continue until the end of the list. In this case, the algorithm will have to check every element in the list, resulting in a time complexity of O(n).

When Does the Worst Case in Binary Search Occur