Does an algorithm exist that finds the maximum of an unsorted array in O(log n) time?
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Does an algorithm exist that finds the maximum of an unsorted array in O(log n) time?
This question is asked a lot (is this a popular CS homework question or something?) and the answer is always the same: no.
Think about it mathematically. Unless the array is sorted, there is nothing to “cut in half” to give you the
log(n)behavior.Read the question comments for a more in-depth discussion (which is probably way out of the question’s scope anyhow).