ISRO CSE 2011 | Question: 70

Question

Number of comparisons required for an unsuccessful search of an element in a sequential search organized, fixed length, symbol table of length L is

• A. L
• B. L/2
• C. (L+1)/2
• D. 2L

Answer 1

It should be L only. Here symbol table is implemented as a sequential search table. So, every time one has to search entire table.

Comments

is there any meaning of organized ??

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It should be talking about the implementation of the symbol table.

Answer 2

Since, it is "sequential search"  here "unsuccessful Search" means it should search(go through) for every element in the symbol table,

so,

given L is the length of the symbol table.

then,

for Unsuccessful search,

it is,

L no.of comparisons required on average.

so, it is = L.

 

 

Answer 3

In a sequential (linear) search:

• The elements are checked one by one from the beginning.
• If the search is unsuccessful, it means the element is not present in the table.
• Therefore, the algorithm must compare with every one of the L elements before concluding that the element is absent.

 

hence, Ans (A)