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javascriptalgorithmbinary-search

Binary search not working because of index?


I am looking at this binary search

I modified it a bit to the index, but cannot get it working

function bs1(a, tar, l, h) {
  // pass index, so equal
  if (h > l) { 
    // not m = (h+l)/2
    // l+diff
    //let m = l + Math.floor( (h - l) / 2 ); 
    let m = Math.floor( (h + l) / 2 ); 

    if (a[m] == tar) 
      return m; 

    // tar... a[m]....
    if (a[m] > tar) 
        return bs1(a, tar, l, m - 1); 

    // a[m]..tar...
    return bs1(a, tar, m + 1, h); 
  }

  return -1;
}

arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7];
tar = 5;
out = bs1(arr, tar, 0, arr.length);
console.log(out);

What I want to do is:

  • pass arr.length, instead of arr.length-1

  • use if (h > l) {, instead of if (h >= l) {

Is it possible?


Solution

  • Try this(made small change) -> returns index 4, is this expected fiddle

    function bs1(a, tar, l, h) {
    
      // pass index, so equal
      if (h > l) { 
        // not m = (h+l)/2
        // l+diff
        //let m = l + Math.floor( (h - l) / 2 ); 
        let m = Math.floor( (h + l) / 2 ); 
    
        if (a[m] == tar) 
          return m; 
    
        // tar... a[m]....
        if (a[m] > tar) 
            return bs1(a, tar, l, m); 
    
        // a[m]..tar...
        return bs1(a, tar, m + 1, h); 
      }
    
      return -1;
    }
    
    arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7];
    tar = 5;
    out = bs1(arr, tar, 0, arr.length);
    console.log(out);