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← Programming questions
Medium / PYTHON

Lower and Upper Binary-Search Boundaries

arrays · binary_search 22 minute study target

Not completed

Challenge

Given a nondecreasing array, return [lower, upper]. Lower is the first index whose value is at least target; upper is the first index whose value is strictly greater than target. Use len(nums) if no such value exists. Thus nums[lower:upper] contains all occurrences of target, possibly none.

Input and output contract

0 ≤ n ≤ 100,000; integer values and target with absolute value ≤ 1,000,000. Return insertion positions, not -1. Empty input returns [0, 0].

All tests follow this contract. You do not need to validate malformed input. Return the requested result from binary_search_boundaries; printed output is not your answer. Standard-library tools are allowed. Implement your solution in Python 3.12.

Target complexity: O(log(n + 1)) time; O(1) auxiliary space

Return values are checked by type. Use the exact function name. Print output is not your answer. Tests have time and memory limits.

Public examples

Example 1

Arguments

[[1, 2, 2, 2, 5], 2]

Expected return

[1, 4]
Example 2

Arguments

[[1, 2, 2, 2, 5], 3]

Expected return

[4, 4]
Example 3

Arguments

[[], 9]

Expected return

[0, 0]
Hint

Use a half-open search interval [low, high). The two searches differ only in < versus ≤.

The worked solution unlocks after completion, or with Premium access.

binary_search_boundaries.pyPython 3.12

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Results

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Hidden tests reveal only their pass/fail status, never their inputs or expected outputs. Runtime is observed wall time—not an inferred complexity class.

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