Binary search to find the range in which the number lies - c++

Question

I have an array
Values array: 12 20 32 40 52
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
0 1 2 3 4
on which I have to perform binary search to find the index of the range in which the number lies. For example:
Given the number -> 19 (It lies between index 0 and 1), return 0
Given the number -> 22 (It lies between index 1 and 2), return 1
Given the number -> 40 (It lies between index 3 and 4), return 3
I implemented the binary search in the following manner, and this comes to be correct for case 1, and 3 but incorrect if we search for case 2 or 52, 55 32, etc.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int findIndex(int values[], int number, unsigned first, unsigned last)
{
unsigned midPoint;
while(first<last)
{
unsigned midPoint = (first+last)/2;
if (number <= values[midPoint])
last = midPoint -1;
else if (number > values[midPoint])
first = midPoint + 1;
}
return midPoint;
}
int main()
{
int a[] = {12, 20, 32, 40, 52};
unsigned i = findIndex(a, 55, 0, 4);
cout << i;
}
Use of additional variables such as bool found is not allowed.

Answer 1

A range in C or C++ is normally given as the pointing directly to the lower bound, but one past the upper bound. Unless you're feeling extremely masochistic, you probably want to stick to that convention in your search as well.
Assuming you're going to follow that, your last = midpoint-1; is incorrect. Rather, you want to set last to one past the end of the range you're going to actually use, so it should be last = midpoint;
You also only really need one comparison, not two. In a binary search as long as the two bounds aren't equal, you're going to set either the lower or the upper bound to the center point, so you only need to do one comparison to decide which.
At least by convention, in C++, you do all your comparisons using < instead of <=, >, etc. Any of the above can work, but following the convention of using only < keeps from imposing extra (unnecessary) requirements on contained types.
Though most interviewers probably don't care, there's also a potential overflow when you do midpoint = (left + right)/2;. I'd generally prefer midpoint = left + (right - left)/2;
Taking those into account, code might look something like this:
template <class T>
T *lower_bound(T *left, T *right, T val) {
while (left < right) {
T *middle = left + (right - left) / 2;
if (*middle < val)
left = middle + 1;
else
right = middle;
}
return left;
}
template <class T>
T *upper_bound(T *left, T *right, T val) {
while (left < right) {
T *middle = left + (right - left) / 2;
if (val < *middle)
right = middle;
else
left = middle + 1;
}
return left;
}

Answer 2

Why not to use standard library functions?
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
for (int input = 10; input < 55; input++) {
cout << input << ": ";
// Your desire:
vector<int> v = { 12, 20, 32, 40, 52 };
if (input < v.front() || input > v.back()) {
cout << "Not found" << endl;
} else {
auto it = upper_bound(v.begin(), v.end(), input);
cout << it - v.begin() - 1 << endl;
}
}
}
Note: a pretty-cool site - http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/algorithm

Answer 3

This will work under the condition that min(A[i]) <= key <=max(A[i])
int binary_search(int A[],int key,int left, int right)
{
while (left <= right) {
int middle = left + (right - left) / 2;
if (A[middle] < key)
left = middle+1;
else if(A[middle] > key)
right = middle-1;
else
return middle;
}
return (left - 1);
}

Answer 4

For INPUT
4
1 3 8 10
4
OUTPUT
3 (the minimum of the 3 and 8)
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int c, first, last, middle, n, search, array[100];
scanf("%d",&n);
for (c = 0; c < n; c++)
scanf("%d",&array[c]);
scanf("%d", &search);
first = 0;
last = n - 1;
middle = (first+last)/2;
while (first <= last) {
if (array[middle] < search)
{
first = middle + 1; }
else if (array[middle] == search) {
break;
}
else
{
last = middle - 1;
}
middle = (first + last)/2;
}
printf("%d\n",array[middle]);
return 0;
}

Answer 5

A regular binary search on success returns the index of the key. On failure to find the key it always stops at the index of the lowest key greater than the key we are searching. I guess following modified binary search algorithm will work.
Given sorted array A
Find a key using binary search and get an index.
If A[index] == key
return index;
else
while(index > 1 && A[index] == A[index -1]) index = index -1;
return index;

Answer 6

binsrch(array, num, low, high) {
if (num > array[high])
return high;
while(1) {
if (low == high-1)
return low;
if(low >= high)
return low-1;
mid = (low+high)/2
if (num < arr[mid])
high = mid;
else
low = mid+1;
}
}

Answer 7

here is a more specific answer
int findIndex(int values[],int key,int first, int last)
{
if(values[first]<=key && values[first+1]>=key)// stopping condition
{
return first;
}
int imid=first+(last-first)/2;
if(first==last || imid==first)
{
return -1;
}
if(values[imid]>key)
{
return findIndex(values,key,first,imid);
}
else if(values[imid]<=key)
{
return findIndex(values,key,imid,last);
}
}
I feel this is more inline to what you were looking for...and we won't crap out on the last value in this thing

Answer 8

/* binary_range.c (c) 2016 adolfo#di-mare.com */
/* http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10935635 */
/* This code is written to be easily translated to Fortran */
#include <stdio.h> /* printf() */
#include <assert.h> /* assert() */
/** Find the biggest index 'i' such that '*nSEED <= nVEC[i]'.
- nVEC[0..N-1] is an strict ascending order array.
- Returns and index in [0..N].
- Returns 'N' when '*nSEED>nVEC[N-1]'.
- Uses binary search to find the range for '*nSEED'.
*/
int binary_range( int *nSEED, int nVEC[] , int N ) {
int lo,hi, mid,plus;
if ( *nSEED > nVEC[N-1] ) {
return N;
}
for (;;) { /* lo = binary_range_search() */
lo = 0;
hi = N-1;
for (;;) {
plus = (hi-lo)>>1; /* mid = (hi+lo)/2; */
if ( plus == 0 ) { assert( hi-lo==1 );
if (*nSEED <= nVEC[lo]) {
hi = lo;
}
else {
lo = hi;
}
}
mid = lo + plus; /* mid = lo + (hi-lo)/2; */
if (*nSEED <= nVEC[mid]) {
hi = mid;
}
else {
lo = mid;
}
if (lo>=hi) { break; }
}
break;
} /* 'lo' is the index */
/* This implementation does not use division. */
/* ========================================= */
assert( *nSEED <= nVEC[lo] );
return lo;
}
/** Find the biggest index 'i' such that '*nSEED <= nVEC[i]'.
- nVEC[0..N-1] is an strict ascending order array.
- Returns and index in [0..N].
- Returns 'N' when '*nSEED>nVEC[N-1]'.
- Uses sequential search to find the range for '*nSEED'.
*/
int sequential_range( int* nSEED, int nVEC[] , int N ) {
int i;
if ( *nSEED > nVEC[N-1] ) {
return N;
}
i=0;
while ( i<N ) {
if ( *nSEED <= nVEC[i] ) { break; }
++i;
}
return i;
}
/** test->stackoverflow.10935635(). */
void test_10935635() {
{{ /* test.stackoverflow.10935635() */
/* http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10935635 */
/* binary_range search to find the range in which the number lies */
/* 0 1 2 3 4 */
int nVEC[] = { 12,20,32,40,52 }; int val;
int N = sizeof(nVEC)/sizeof(nVEC[0]); /* N = DIM(nVEC[]) */
val=19; val = binary_range( &val,nVEC,N );
/* 19 -> [12 < (19) <= 20] -> return 1 */
val=19; assert( binary_range( &val,nVEC,N ) == 1 );
/* 22 -> [20 < (22) <= 32] -> return 2 */
val=22; assert( binary_range( &val,nVEC,N ) == 2 );
/* 40 -> [32 < (40) <= 40] -> return 3 */
val=40; assert( binary_range( &val,nVEC,N ) == 3 );
/* Everything over 52 returns N */
val=53; assert( binary_range( &val,nVEC,N ) == N );
}}
}
/** Test program. */
int main() {
if (1) {
printf( "\ntest_10935635()" );
test_10935635();
}
printf( "\nEND" );
return 0;
}
/* Compiler: gcc.exe (tdm-1) 4.9.2 */
/* IDE: Code::Blocks 16.01 */
/* Language: C && C++ */
/* EOF: binary_range.c */

Answer 9

I know this is an old thread, but since I had to solve a similar problem I thought I would share it. Given a set of non-overlapping ranges of integers, I need to test if a given value lies in any of those ranges. The following (in Java), uses a modified binary search to test if a value lies within the sorted (lowest to highest) set of integer ranges.
/**
* Very basic Range representation for long values
*
*/
public class Range {
private long low;
private long high;
public Range(long low, long high) {
this.low = low;
this.high = high;
}
public boolean isInRange(long val) {
return val >= low && val <= high;
}
public long getLow() {
return low;
}
public void setLow(long low) {
this.low = low;
}
public long getHigh() {
return high;
}
public void setHigh(long high) {
this.high = high;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "Range [low=" + low + ", high=" + high + "]";
}
}
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
//Java implementation of iterative Binary Search over Ranges
class BinaryRangeSearch {
// Returns index of x if it is present in the list of Range,
// else return -1
int binarySearch(List<Range> ranges, int x)
{
Range[] arr = new Range[ranges.size()];
arr = ranges.toArray(arr);
int low = 0, high = arr.length - 1;
int iters = 0;
while (low <= high) {
int mid = low + (high - low) / 2; // find mid point
// Check if x is present a
if (arr[mid].getLow() == x) {
System.out.println(iters + " iterations");
return mid;
}
// If x greater, ignore left half
if (x > arr[mid].getHigh()) {
low = mid + 1;
}
else if (x >= arr[mid].getLow()) {
System.out.println(iters + " iterations");
return mid;
}
// If x is smaller, ignore right half of remaining Ranges
else
high = mid - 1;
iters++;
}
return -1; // not in any of the given Ranges
}
// Driver method to test above
public static void main(String args[])
{
BinaryRangeSearch ob = new BinaryRangeSearch();
// make a test list of long Range
int multiplier = 1;
List<Range> ranges = new ArrayList<>();
int high = 0;
for(int i = 0; i <7; i++) {
int low = i + high;
high = (i+10) * multiplier;
Range r = new Range(low, high);
multiplier *= 10;
ranges.add(r);
}
System.out.println(Arrays.toString(ranges.toArray()));
int result = ob.binarySearch(ranges, 11);
if (result == -1)
System.out.println("Element not present");
else
System.out.println("Element found at "
+ "index " + result);
}
}

Answer 10

My python implementation:
Time complexity: O(log(n))
Space complexity: O(log(n))
def searchForRange(array, target):
range = [-1, -1]
alteredBinarySerach(array, target, 0, len(array) -1, range, True)
alteredBinarySerach(array, target, 0, len(array) -1, range, False)
return range
def alteredBinarySerach(array, target, left, right, range, goLeft):
if left > right:
return
middle = (left+ right)//2
if array[middle] > target:
alteredBinarySerach(array, target, left, middle -1, range, goLeft)
elif array[middle] < target:
alteredBinarySerach(array, target, middle +1, right, range, goLeft)
else:
if goLeft:
if middle == 0 or array[middle -1] != target:
range[0] = middle
else:
alteredBinarySerach(array, target, left, middle -1 , range, goLeft)
else:
if middle == len(array) -1 or array[middle+1] != target:
range[1] = middle
else:
alteredBinarySerach(array, target, middle +1, right , range, goLeft)