Dichotomic search
![A graphical representation of the dichotomic search table for Morse code. Shifting to the left represents a Dit (.), and a shift to the right represents a Dah (-). Where one lands indicates the letter for the code.](/Images/godic/202501/08/Morse_code_tree34710.png")
In computer science, a dichotomic search is a search algorithm that operates by selecting between two distinct alternatives (dichotomies) at each step. It is a specific type of divide and conquer algorithm. A well-known example is binary search.
Abstractly, a dichotomic search can be viewed as following edges of an implicit binary tree structure until it reaches a leaf (a goal or final state). This creates a theoretical tradeoff between the number of possible states and the running time: given k comparisons, the algorithm can only reach O(2) possible states and/or possible goals.