Lesson 5:

Binary search
KS4 - Algorithms
 Starter activity

Guess the number

You are guessing the number that someone is thinking of between 1-15.
The only feedback you get from the person is “correct”, “higher” or
“lower”.

For the first attempt you guess 8 and the person replies “lower”.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Questions:
What number will you guess next?
What would be the maximum number of guesses needed for 15
numbers?
2
Think, write, pair, share.
 Objectives

Lesson 5: Binary search

In this lesson, you will:
● Describe how binary search is used for finding the position of an
item in a list of items

● Perform a binary search to find the position of an item in a list

● Identify when a binary search can and cannot be carried out

3
 Activity 1

Using feedback to find a number

The most efficient way to find a number based on the feedback
“correct”, “higher” or “lower” is to check the middle number each
time.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

● If the middle number is correct then you are done.

● If the middle number is lower, you can ignore all the numbers after
it.
● If the middle number is higher, you can ignore all the numbers
before it.
4
 Activity 2

Binary search
Binary search is a much more efficient way of searching through a list
of items compared to a linear search.

However, you can only use a binary search algorithm if the data is
ordered i.e. smallest to largest.

If the data that you have is unordered, you must either use a linear
search algorithm or sort the data first.

5
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

Cup 1 Cup 2 Cup 3 Cup 4 Cup 5 Cup 6 Cup 7 Cup 8 Cup 9

5 23 28 47 52 68 73 77 90

● Take an ordered list of data and an item that is being searched for
(the search item)

6
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

Cup 1 Cup 2 Cup 3 Cup 4 Cup 5 Cup 6 Cup 7 Cup 8 Cup 9

5 23 28 47 52 68 73 77 90

● Maintain a range of items where the search item might be found.

Initially, set the range to be the entire list.
The range is specified through the indices of the first and the last items in the
range. 7
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

Cup 1 Cup 2 Cup 3 Cup 4 Cup 5 Cup 6 Cup 7 Cup 8 Cup 9

5 23 28 47 52 68 73 77 90

midpoint

● Find the item in the middle of the range (the midpoint item).

8
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

Cup 1 Cup 2 Cup 3 Cup 4 Cup 5 Cup 6 Cup 7 Cup 8 Cup 9

5 23 28 47 52 68 73 77 90

midpoint

● Compare the midpoint item to the item you are searching for.

9
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

Cup 6 Cup 7 Cup 8 Cup 9

52 68 73 77 90

midpoint

● If the midpoint item is less than than the search item, change the
range to focus on the items after the midpoint.
The items are arranged in order, so the search item cannot be found before the
midpoint. 1
0
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

Cup 6 Cup 7 Cup 8 Cup 9

68 73 77 90

midpoint

● Find the item in the middle of the range (the midpoint item).
If there is an even number of items, select the middle-left item.

1
1
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

Cup 6 Cup 7 Cup 8 Cup 9

68 73 77 90

midpoint

● Compare the midpoint item to the item you are searching for.

1
2
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

73

midpoint

● If the midpoint item is greater than than the search item, change the
range to focus on the items before the midpoint.
The items are arranged in order, so the search item cannot be found after the midpoint.
1
3
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

68

midpoint

● Find the item in the middle of the range (the midpoint item).
If there is only one item left, select this item.

1
4
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

68

midpoint

● Compare the midpoint item to the item you are searching for.

1
5
 Activity 2

Binary search
Each number is hidden under a cup. The cups are arranged in order
with the lowest value on the left. The number to find is 68.

68

midpoint

● If the item at the midpoint is equal to the search item, then stop
searching.

1
6
 Activity 2

Algorithm for binary search

1. Take an ordered list of data and an item that is being searched for
2. Maintain a range of items where the search item might be found.
Initially, set the range to be the entire list.
3. Repeat steps a-e until you find the item you are searching for or there
are no more items to check (the range is empty):
a. Find the item in the middle of the range (the midpoint item).
b. Compare the midpoint item to the item you are searching for.
c. If the midpoint item is equal to the search item, then stop
searching.
d. Otherwise, if the midpoint item is less than than the search item,
change the range to focus on the items after the midpoint.
e. Otherwise, if the midpoint item is greater than than the search
item, change the range to focus on the items before the midpoint. 1
7
 Activity 3

Searching ordered cards

You are now going to perform a binary search on a set of cards:

1. Take 10 cards and choose a card to search for

2. Put the cards in order from lowest to highest
3. Place 8 of the 10 cards face down in a single row without looking at
them
4. Perform a binary search for your chosen card and fill in the table

Rules: you can only turn over one card at a time. You must turn it back
over after each comparison.

Follow the instructions in groups of 2 or 3 and answer the questions

on the Activity 3 worksheet.
1
8
 Activity 4

Performance of binary search

Binary search is a very powerful algorithm because of how fast it is.

In the previous examples, you saw that with each comparison, the
algorithm eliminates half of the data.

That means if you had 1000 items to search through, it would take at
most 10 comparisons for a binary search to find an item.

If you doubled that number to 2000 items, it would only increase the
most number of comparisons by one!

1
9
 Activity 4

Performing a binary search

Complete the tasks on the

Activity 4 worksheet for
performing a binary search.

2
0
 Plenary

Ordered and unordered data

When faced with a data searching problem, you will either have to deal
with ordered or unordered sequences of items.

Questions:

1. Does data need to be in sequence for you to perform a linear search

on it?
2. Can you perform a binary search on a list of unsorted items?
3. Why are phone books and dictionaries sorted?

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 Summary

Next lesson

In this lesson, you… Next lesson, you will…

Described how binary search is Investigate a sorting algorithm

used for finding the position of an called bubble sort.
item in a list of items.

Performed a binary search to find

the position of an item in a list.

Identified scenarios when a

binary search can and cannot be
carried out.
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