# Binary search, revisited

In the previous post on binary search, we wrote the following binary search implementation and justified its correctness:

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21  def binary_search(array, is_green): left, right = 0, len(array) - 1 if not array: return 0 if not is_green(array[left]): return 0 if is_green(array[right]): return len(array) # Main loop which narrows our search range. while left + 1 < right: middle = (left + right) // 2 if is_green(array[middle]): left = middle else: right = middle return right # Call as such: binary_search(array, lambda x: x < 6) 

## A shift in perspective

I want to change the parameters slightly: instead of passing an array, let’s try passing in left and right indices. Since we no longer have access to array inside the binary_search function, we have to modify the is_green parameter to take in an index instead of a value.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19  def binary_search(left, right, is_green): if left >= right: return 0 if not is_green(left): return 0 if is_green(right): return right + 1 while left + 1 < right: middle = (left + right) // 2 if is_green(middle): left = middle else: right = middle return right # Usage. binary_search(0, len(array) - 1, lambda i: array[i] < 6) 

Why make this change? Many references claim that binary search is an algorithm for finding the position of a target value in an array. But now our new binary_search function doesn’t even take an array anymore. Why differ from convention?

### The generalization

Writing binary search as a function that takes a range (a low and high value) and a function reveals the generalization: binary search is an algorithm that finds the boundary between contiguous sections of “green” and “red” elements in some range.

Notice that the above definition doesn’t mention an array at all. As long as we have a known range and the requisite structure on that range (all green elements, followed by all red elements), we can use binary search.

### A small example

Let’s use binary search to find the first power of two larger than 1 million. That is, we want to find an integer $$n$$ such that $$2^{n} \gt 1{,}000{,}000$$ and $$2^{n-1} \le 1{,}000{,}000$$.

Consider $$2^n$$. If $$2^n \le 1{,}000{,}000$$, let’s call $$n$$ green. Otherwise, $$2^n \gt 1{,}000{,}000$$, so let’s call $$n$$ red. We could then write is_exp_green as follows:

def is_exp_green(n):
return (2 ** n) <= 1_000_000


Does is_green have the correct structure? Yes. First, we know that green elements must be preceded by green elements: Suppose $$n$$ is green; that means $$2^{n} \le 1{,}000{,}000$$. Then clearly $$2^{n-1} \lt 2^{n} \le 1{,}000{,}000$$. So $$n-1$$ must also be green.

We can make a similar argument that all red elements must be followed by more red elements. Thus, we have a region of green, followed by a region of red.

Finally, we know that 0 is green ($$2^0 = 1 \lt 1{,}000{,}000$$), and let’s guess 100 is red. So we can call binary search (Godbolt):

binary_search(0, 100, is_exp_green)  # 20


And it works! Here, binary search helps us search for the first false value of is_exp_green. That function definition, plus upper and lower bounds, are all we need. There is no array of values we’re looking through.

It’s also important to note that is_exp_green (which computes the power of 2) is only executed $$\mathcal{O}(\log{n})$$ times. So this variant of binary search is still efficient.

### An interview question

Suppose you have a chocolate bar with almonds. The chocolate bar has grooves, dividing it into squares. Each square has a certain number of almonds.

You have $$n-1$$ friends, who all love almonds, so they will take the partitions with the most number of almonds. That leaves you with the partition with the least. How can you divide the chocolate bar into $$n$$ partitions to maximize the number of almonds you get? (You aren’t allowed to reorder squares: you must break the chocolate at $$n-1$$ points.)

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Chocolate bar, to be split into three parts.
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Chocolate bar divided into 3 partitions.
The first partition has the fewest almonds (9).

### Main idea

Another way to state the problem is: find the largest value of $$k$$ such that we can give everyone at least $$k$$ almonds by partitioning the chocolate bar.

Notice that this problem now has the same structure as above: if it’s possible to give everyone $$k$$ almonds, then it must be possible to give everyone $$k-1$$ almonds. And if it’s not possible to give everyone $$k$$ almonds, then it’s also not possible to give everyone $$k+1$$ almonds.

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Possible to give all three at least 7 almonds.
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So also possible to give at least 6 almonds.

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Not possible to give all three at least 11 almonds.
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So not possible to give at least 12 almonds.

So, we have a region where it is possible to give everyone $$k$$ almonds, followed by a region where it is not. We can find the boundary between the two regions via binary search.

Our is_green function would then be a procedure that would decide whether it is possible to give everyone at least $$k$$ almonds. Then we can use our binary search implementation above to find the minimum impossible $$k$$ value. Then the preceding value would be the maximum possible $$k$$ value.

### Decision problems and complexity theory

I am (obviously) not the first person to have noticed this generalization of binary search. There are a few competitive programming articles that teach binary search from a similar perpsective.

Another place where this variant of binary search appears is when “reducing” optimization problems to their decision variants. Very informally, reducing a problem $$A$$ to another problem $$B$$ means that you solve problem $$A$$ by calling problem $$B$$ one or more times.1

We saw that above with the chocolates problem: in order to solve the chocolate optimization problem $$A$$ (“maximize the number of almonds I receive”), we instead reduced it to $$B$$, the decision problem (“can I give myself at least $$k$$ almonds?") using $$\mathcal{O}(\log{n})$$ calls to $$B$$.

Binary search helped us accomplish the reduction with as few calls to $$B$$ possible. In general, binary search can help us quickly solve many optimization problems that have decision variants with a similar structure.

For example, a famous problem in complexity theory is the travelling salesman problem (TSP). The usual statement of TSP is: given some cities and roads (each with travel cost) connecting cities, is it possible to visit every city exactly once and return to the original city in under cost $$C$$?

Notice that this is a decision problem: the answer is either true or false. And it also has the same structure that we can use for binary search: if it’s possible to make such a trip in cost $$C$$, it must be possible with cost $$C-1$$, and if it’s impossible in cost $$C$$, it must also be impossible with cost $$C+1$$.

Thus, consider an optimization variant of TSP: given a list of cities and roads, what is the cost of the shortest path that visits every city exactly once and returns to the original city? We can solve this with $$\mathcal{O}(\log{n})$$ calls to TSP-Decision: pick some lower bound on the cost and some upper bound and use binary search.

Again, no longer are we finding an element in an array, but we are finding the boundary between falses (greens) and trues (reds) for TSP-Decision.

1. Not a precise definition, but the details aren’t important here. ↩︎