Chapter 8, Problem 1RQE

Explanation of Solution

Linear search:

• Linear search or sequential search is the process of searching for a particular element that is present in the array one by one till the last element in the search element is found.
• The search uses a loop that iterates from the beginning till the last element to find the search element.
• The search continues for all the elements present in the array until the last element.
• The search of the target element is made after comparing it with each and every element that is present in the array.
• The search process continues until the target value or search value is found.
• If the search element is not found, the search gets returned unsuccessfully.

Number of comparisons in linear search:

To search the target element that is present in the array, the search element is compared with the number of elements present in the array. Even if the array contains 500 elements, the search process continues 500 times if the search element is present at the end of the array.

Maximum number of comparison = N

Average number of the comparison = N/2

Therefore, linear search is called sequential search because the search element is found by comparing each element present in the array using a loop one after the other, until the search element is found.