Jump Search Algorithm

Jump search finds a target value in a sorted array by first jumping ahead in fixed-size blocks, typically of size equal to the square root of the array's length, checking the value at each jump point until a block is found whose ending value is greater than or equal to the target, and then performing a linear search backward within that block to find the exact position. It runs in O(square root of n) time, slower than binary search's O(log n) but requiring only forward jumps and a final short linear scan, useful on data structures where backward traversal or random access is costly, such as data read from external storage in blocks. It is a standard example of a block-based search technique taught alongside linear and binary search.