An array \( A \) of length \( n \) with distinct elements is said to be bitonic if there is an index \( 1 \leq i \leq n \) such that \( A[1..i] \) is sorted in the non-decreasing order and \( A[i+1 .. n] \) is sorted in the non-increasing order.
Which ONE of the following represents the best possible asymptotic bound for the worst-case number of comparisons by an algorithm that searches for an element in a bitonic array \( A \)?
