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Khan academy algorithm: binary search solution

I worked on algorithms at Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-science/algorithms/binary-search/p/challenge-binary-search Most of the code below results in -1? Why is this? So does Binary Search Wont work effectively?

    var doSearch = function(array, targetValue) {
    var min = 0;
    var max = array.length - 1;
    var guess;

    while(min < max) {
        guess = Math.floor((max + min) / 2);

        if (array[guess] === targetValue) {
            return guess;
        }
        else if (array[guess] < targetValue) {
            min = guess + 1;
        }
        else {
            max = guess - 1;
        }

    }

    return -1;
};

var primes = [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 
        41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97];

for(var i=0;i<primes.length;i++){
    var result = doSearch(primes,primes[i]);
    console.log("Found prime at index of " + primes[i] +" @ " + result);    
}

Results:

Found prime at index of 2 @ 0
Found prime at index of 3 @ -1
Found prime at index of 5 @ 2
Found prime at index of 7 @ 3
Found prime at index of 11 @ -1
Found prime at index of 13 @ 5
Found prime at index of 17 @ 6
Found prime at index of 19 @ -1
Found prime at index of 23 @ 8
Found prime at index of 29 @ -1
Found prime at index of 31 @ 10
Found prime at index of 37 @ -1
Found prime at index of 41 @ 12
Found prime at index of 43 @ 13
Found prime at index of 47 @ -1
Found prime at index of 53 @ 15
Found prime at index of 59 @ 16
Found prime at index of 61 @ -1
Found prime at index of 67 @ 18
Found prime at index of 71 @ 19
Found prime at index of 73 @ -1
Found prime at index of 79 @ 21
Found prime at index of 83 @ -1
Found prime at index of 89 @ 23
Found prime at index of 97 @ -1

What am I missing?

+3


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2 answers


You end the loop too early is min == max

a valid condition.

Change your loop to

while(min <= max) {
    guess = Math.floor((max + min) / 2);

    if (array[guess] === targetValue) {
        return guess;
    }
    else if (array[guess] < targetValue) {
        min = guess + 1;
    }
    else {
        max = guess - 1;
    }

}


I am getting output

VM153:30 Found prime at index of 2 @ 0
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 3 @ 1
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 5 @ 2
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 7 @ 3
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 11 @ 4
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 13 @ 5
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 17 @ 6
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 19 @ 7
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 23 @ 8
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 29 @ 9
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 31 @ 10
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 37 @ 11
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 41 @ 12
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 43 @ 13
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 47 @ 14
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 53 @ 15
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 59 @ 16
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 61 @ 17
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 67 @ 18
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 71 @ 19
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 73 @ 20
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 79 @ 21
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 83 @ 22
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 89 @ 23
VM153:30 Found prime at index of 97 @ 24
+7


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Let's say you only had 2 prime numbers in your list and you were looking for more. Your loop will check for less, fail and set to min

be the same max

, so the loop will end before checking that value.



Your loop protection should be min <= max

.

+2


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