What does a searching algorithm do?
Search through a set of data
Save a set of data
Help to organise data
What would be needed if searching algorithms didn't exist?
The data would need to be saved
Each item of data would need to be looked at one by one, until the searched for data was found
A new set of data to look at would be needed
Which of these is a type of searching algorithm?
Serial search
Word search
Search engine
What does a serial search do?
Looks at the first item of data, then each one in turn, until it finds the data item requested
Organises the data into alphabetical order
Splits the data until the requested data is found
What is an advantage of a serial search?
It is very quick
It only works with ordered lists
It is a simple algorithm
Which of the following is NOT an advantage of a serial search?
It can be used on any set of data regardless of type
It is the quickest search to use
It is a simple algorithm, so it is easy to write a computer program to carry it out
What does a binary search do?
Converts all the data into binary
Takes the data and splits it in half repeatedly until it finds the data item requested
Which search algorithm would be best to use with ordered data?
A binary search
Either binary search or a serial search
A serial search
What is an advantage of a binary search
What is the biggest disadvantage of a binary search?
It is slow
It can only be used if the data is sorted into an order
It takes the data and keeps dividing it in half until it finds the item it is looking for