Why use binary search if there's ternary search?

Question

I recently heard about ternary search in which we divide an array into 3 parts and compare. Here there will be two comparisons but it reduces the array to n/3. Why don\'t p

Answer 1

You may have heard ternary search being used in those riddles that involve weighing things on scales. Those scales can return 3 answers: left is lighter, both are the same, or left is heavier. So in a ternary search, it only takes 1 comparison. However, computers use boolean logic, which only has 2 answers. To do the ternary search, you'd actually have to do 2 comparisons instead of 1. I guess there are some cases where this is still faster as earlier posters mentioned, but you can see that ternary search isn't always better, and it's more confusing and less natural to implement on a computer.

Answer 2

A ternary search will still give you the same asymptotic complexity O(log N) search time, and adds complexity to the implementation.

The same argument can be said for why you would not want a quad search or any other higher order.

Answer 3

I have just posted a blog about the ternary search and I have shown some results. I have also provided some initial level implementations on my git repo I totally agree with every one about the theory part of the ternary search but why not give it a try? As per the implementation that part is easy enough if you have three years of coding experience. I found that if you have huge data set and you need to search it many times ternary search has an advantage. If you think you can do better with a ternary search go for it.