The value for which you are searching is called the
The value for which we are searching is called the search argument.
A search algorithm is any algorithm which solves the search problem, namely, to retrieve information stored within some data structure, or calculated in the search space of a problem domain.
Linear search:- a search which simply checks the values in sequence until the desired value is found.
Binary search:- a search which requires a sorted input list, and checks for the value in the middle of the list, repeatedly discarding the half of the list which contains values which are definitely either all larger or all smaller than the desired value.