You may not know this, but you just learned binary search.

get fired, but arrive at work as late as Here's two things I know. I arrive eight hours late to work, fired. I also arrive on time, fired. So at 0 minutes not fired 8 hours the unemployment "threshold" that, cooked. As I mentioned, the latest possible time I can arrive without getting fired is here, this is when I want to show up! How can I find this threshold? arrive one minute two minutes late, and so on until I get 0 minutes 8 hours that could take me 8 (hours) * 60 (minutes) = 480 days! the unemployment "threshold" I don't have that kind of time. Here's what I'll do instead. Tomorrow, I'm gonna arrive exactly four hours late. 0 minutes 8 hours arrive 4 hours late don't get fired? threshold is over here If I do get fired? threshold is over here If I do get fired, I'm gonna have to cry and beg my manager for my job back. So tomorrow I'll come into work right in the middle, two hours late. If I repeat this process, I'm gonna be able to throw out half the minutes I need to check every single day and converge on my unemployment threshold in 8.9 days, which is way more double for me. You may not know this, but you just learned binary search, saw why it's efficient in computer science, and can probably now solve these problems realistically. Either way, I'm getting fired, but at least I'll be prepared with binary search for my next technical interview.