{"id":9921,"date":"2025-09-03T13:40:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T08:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/?p=9921"},"modified":"2025-10-03T15:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T09:47:15","slug":"guess-higher-or-lower_","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/guess-higher-or-lower_\/","title":{"rendered":"Guess Higher or Lower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- SUM of two numbers -->\n<!-- PrismJS for Syntax Highlighting -->\n<link href=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/prismjs@1.29.0\/themes\/prism-tomorrow.min.css\" rel=\"stylesheet\">\n<script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/prismjs@1.29.0\/prism.min.js\"><\/script>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/prismjs@1.29.0\/plugins\/autoloader\/prism-autoloader.min.js\"><\/script>\n\n<style>\n.wp_blog_theme {\n  --primary: #E58C32;\n  --secondary: #030302;\n  --light-bg: #fef9f4;\n  --text-dark: #2d2d2d;\n  --tab-radius: 12px;\n  --shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08);\n  --code-bg: #001f3f;\n  --code-text: #d4f1ff;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_container {\n  font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif;\n  background: var(--light-bg);\n  margin: 0;\n  padding: 0;\n  color: var(--text-dark);\n}\n\n\/* Heading *\/\n.wp_blog_main-heading {\n  text-align: center;\n  font-size: 2.4rem;\n  color: var(--primary);\n  margin-top: 2.5rem;\n  font-weight: bold;\n}\n\n\/* Explanation Card *\/\n.wp_blog_explanation,\n.wp_blog_code-tabs-container {\n  max-width: 940px;\n  margin: 2rem auto;\n  padding: 2rem;\n  background: white;\n  border-radius: var(--tab-radius);\n  box-shadow: var(--shadow);\n}\n\n\/* Text and Visuals *\/\n.wp_blog_explanation h2 {\n  font-size: 1.4rem;\n  color: var(--primary);\n  margin-bottom: 0.5rem;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_explanation p,\n.wp_blog_explanation li {\n  font-size: 1.05rem;\n  line-height: 1.7;\n  margin: 0.5rem 0;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_explanation code {\n  background: #fef9f4; 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\/* makes it the reference for absolute children *\/\n}\n\n.wp_blog_toggle-btn {\n  position: absolute;\n  top: 1rem;\n  right: 1rem;\n  z-index: 9999;\n  padding: 0.5rem 0.8rem;\n  border-radius: 10%;\n  background: var(--primary);\n  color: white;\n  font-weight: bold;\n  cursor: pointer;\n  border: none;\n  box-shadow: var(--shadow);\n  transition: background 0.3s, transform 0.2s;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_toggle-btn:hover {\n  background: #cc772e;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_theme.dark-mode .wp_blog_code-tabs-container {\n  background: #1e1e1e;\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<div class=\"wp_blog_container wp_blog_theme\">\n  <button id=\"blogNotesThemeToggle\" class=\"wp_blog_toggle-btn\">\ud83c\udf19<\/button>\n  <h1 class=\"wp_blog_main-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n  <div class=\"wp_blog_explanation\">\n    <h2>Problem Statement:<\/h2>\n    <p>\n        This <strong>problem uses binary search<\/strong> to find a hidden number between <code>1 and n<\/code> using a feedback <strong>API guess(num)<\/strong>, which tells us whether our guess is too <strong>high, too low, or correct<\/strong>.\n   \n    <\/p>\n\n    <h2>Approach:<\/h2>\n    <ul>\n      <li>Initialize two pointers: <code>l = 1<\/code> and <code>r = n<\/code>.<\/li>\n      <li>Use <strong>binary search<\/strong> to guess the middle number <code>m<\/code>.<\/li>\n      <li>If <code>guess(m)<\/code> returns:\n        <ul>\n            <li><code>0 \u2192 m<\/code> is the correct number.<\/li>\n            <li><code>-1<\/code> \u2192 the picked number is <code>smaller \u2192 move left<\/code>.<\/li>\n            <li><code>1<\/code> \u2192 the picked number is <code>larger \u2192 move right<\/code>.<\/li>\n        <\/ul>\n      <\/li>\n      <li><code>Repeat<\/code> until the number is found.<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n\n    <h2>Edge Case<\/h2>\n    <p><strong>Input:<\/strong> n= 1, pick = 1<\/p>\n    <p><strong>Output:<\/strong> 1<\/p>\n    <h2>Time &#038; Space Complexity:<\/h2>\n    <p><strong>Time Complexity:<\/strong> O(logn)<\/p>\n    <p><strong>Space Complexity:<\/strong> O(1)<\/p>\n\n<h2>Dry Run<\/h2>\n<div style=\"background: var(--light-bg); border-left: 4px solid var(--primary); padding: 1rem; border-radius: var(--tab-radius); margin: 1rem 0; color: var(--text-dark);\">\n  <p><strong>Input:<\/strong> <code>n = 10, pick = 6<\/code><\/p>\n  <pre style=\"white-space: pre-wrap; background: var(--code-bg); padding: 1rem; border-radius: 8px; overflow-x: auto; color: var(--code-text);\">\nInitial:\nl = 1, r = 10\n\nLoop 1:\nm = Math.floor((1 + 10) \/ 2) = 5\nguess(5) \u2192 too low \u2192 l = m + 1 = 6\n\nLoop 2:\nm = Math.floor((6 + 10) \/ 2) = 8\nguess(8) \u2192 too high \u2192 r = m - 1 = 7\n\nLoop 3:\nm = Math.floor((6 + 7) \/ 2) = 6\nguess(6) \u2192 correct \u2192 return 6\n  <\/pre>\n  <!-- <p><strong>Output:<\/strong> <code>Result: 6<\/code><\/p> -->\n<\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tabs-container\">\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tabs-header\">\n      <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button active\" data-lang=\"js\">JavaScript<\/button>\n      <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"py\">Python<\/button>\n      <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"java\">Java<\/button>\n      <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"cpp\">C++<\/button>\n      <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"c\">C<\/button>\n      <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"cs\">C#<\/button>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content active\" data-lang=\"js\">\n      <pre><code class=\"language-javascript\">\nvar guessNumber = function(n) {\n    let l = 1;\n    let r = n;\n    while (l <= r) {\n        let m = l + Math.floor((r - l) \/ 2);\n        let res = guess(m);\n        if (res === 0) {\n            return m;\n        } else if (res < 0) {\n            r = m - 1;\n        } else {\n            l = m + 1;\n        }\n    }\n}; \n      <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"py\">\n      <pre><code class=\"language-python\">\ndef guessNumber(n):\n    l, r = 1, n\n    while l <= r:\n        m = l + (r - l) \/\/ 2\n        res = guess(m)\n        if res == 0:\n            return m\n        elif res < 0:\n            r = m - 1\n        else:\n            l = m + 1\n    return -1\n      <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"java\">\n      <pre><code class=\"language-java\">\npublic class Solution {\n    public int guessNumber(int n) {\n        int l = 1, r = n;\n        while (l <= r) {\n            int m = l + (r - l) \/ 2;\n            int res = guess(m);\n            if (res == 0) return m;\n            else if (res < 0) r = m - 1;\n            else l = m + 1;\n        }\n        return -1;\n    }\n}\n      <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"cpp\">\n      <pre><code class=\"language-cpp\">\n#include &lt;iostream&gt;\nint guessNumber(int n) {\n    int l = 1, r = n;\n    while (l <= r) {\n        int m = l + (r - l) \/ 2;\n        int res = guess(m);\n        if (res == 0) return m;\n        else if (res < 0) r = m - 1;\n        else l = m + 1;\n    }\n    return -1;\n}\n      <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"c\">\n      <pre><code class=\"language-c\">\n#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;\n\nint guessNumber(int n) {\n    int l = 1, r = n;\n    while (l <= r) {\n        int m = l + (r - l) \/ 2;\n        int res = guess(m);\n        if (res == 0) return m;\n        else if (res < 0) r = m - 1;\n        else l = m + 1;\n    }\n    return -1;\n}\n      <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"cs\">\n      <pre><code class=\"language-csharp\">\npublic class Solution {\n    public int GuessNumber(int n) {\n        int l = 1, r = n;\n        while (l <= r) {\n            int m = l + (r - l) \/ 2;\n            int res = Guess(m);\n            if (res == 0) return m;\n            else if (res < 0) r = m - 1;\n            else l = m + 1;\n        }\n        return -1;\n    }\n}\n      <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<script>\ndocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", () => {\n  const buttons = document.querySelectorAll(\".wp_blog_code-tab-button\");\n  const contents = document.querySelectorAll(\".wp_blog_code-tab-content\");\n\n  buttons.forEach((button) => {\n    button.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n      const lang = button.getAttribute(\"data-lang\");\n\n      buttons.forEach((btn) => btn.classList.remove(\"active\"));\n      contents.forEach((content) => content.classList.remove(\"active\"));\n\n      button.classList.add(\"active\");\n      document\n        .querySelector(`.wp_blog_code-tab-content[data-lang=\"${lang}\"]`)\n        .classList.add(\"active\");\n    });\n  });\n\n  const themeToggle = document.getElementById(\"blogNotesThemeToggle\");\n  const themeContainer = document.querySelector(\".wp_blog_theme\");\n\n  themeToggle.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n    themeContainer.classList.toggle(\"dark-mode\");\n    themeToggle.textContent =\n      themeContainer.classList.contains(\"dark-mode\") ? \"\u2600\ufe0f\" : \"\ud83c\udf19\";\n  });\n});\n<\/script>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83c\udf19 Problem Statement: This problem uses binary search to find a hidden number between 1 and n using a feedback API guess(num), which tells us whether our guess is too high, too low, or correct. Approach: Initialize two pointers: l = 1 and r = n. Use binary search to guess the middle number m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210,260,176,175,211,811,810,174,172,173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-algorithms","category-c-c-plus-plus","category-csharp","category-cplusplus","category-data-structures","category-data-structures-and-algorithms","category-dsa","category-java","category-javascript","category-python"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9921"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10228,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921\/revisions\/10228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}