What is the main advantage of a binary search?

The main advantage of a binary search lies in its efficiency when dealing with large datasets. Specifically, binary search operates on a sorted array or list, and its method of halving the search space with each iteration dramatically reduces the number of comparisons needed to find an element. In contrast to linear search methods, which may require checking every element sequentially, a binary search can achieve a search time proportional to the logarithm of the number of elements, making it significantly faster for large datasets.

This logarithmic time complexity, typically expressed as O(log n), allows binary search to scale well, particularly when compared with the linear time complexity, O(n), of methods that examine each element one at a time. Thus, for large datasets, this efficiency makes binary search a preferred choice for searching operations where the data is already sorted.