Binary Search Investigation

This macro-enabled spreadsheet is designed to support learning how a Binary Search works in Computing. It simulates a database with record keys in the range zero to the user’s choice of between ten and one million. After entering the record number to be found, the spreadsheet shows how each iteration of the Binary Search focusses in tighter and tighter on the required record until it is found. It also gives learners the opportunity to see how algorithms of logarithmic complexity O(Log n) scale, i.e. how doubling the number of records only adds one to the maximum number of searches required to find the target.

NOTE: for this spreadsheet to work correctly, the copy of Excel in which it is running must allow macros to execute, and ‘Enable Content’ must be clicked when the spreadsheet is opened.