An efficient search algorithm that finds a target value in a sorted array by repeatedly dividing the search interval in half. It compares the target with the middle element and eliminates half of the remaining elements with each comparison.
'Binary' from Latin 'binarius' meaning 'consisting of two,' referring to the two-way division at each step. 'Search' from Old French 'cerchier.' The algorithm was formalized in the 1940s-50s, though the divide-and-conquer principle is much older.
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