A search algorithm must locate a student record within a database of 10,000 entries. Which algorithm provides the MOST efficient time complexity in the worst-case scenario?

💡 Explanation

Binary search exhibits logarithmic time complexity on sorted data because it repeatedly divides the search interval in half; therefore, it is far more efficient than linear or quadratic search. The efficiency stems from the divide-and-conquer mechanism, rather than exhaustively checking each entry.

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