Data Structures Questions
A binary search tree is a type of data structure that organizes elements in a hierarchical manner. It is composed of nodes, where each node contains a value and has two child nodes - a left child and a right child. The left child node contains a value smaller than the parent node, while the right child node contains a value greater than the parent node.
The binary search tree works by following a set of rules to maintain its structure. When inserting a new element, it compares the value of the element with the value of the current node. If the value is smaller, it goes to the left child node; if it is greater, it goes to the right child node. This process continues until it finds an empty spot to insert the new element.
When searching for an element, the binary search tree compares the value with the value of the current node. If they match, the element is found. If the value is smaller, it goes to the left child node; if it is greater, it goes to the right child node. This process continues until the element is found or it reaches a leaf node (a node with no children), indicating that the element is not present in the tree.
The binary search tree allows for efficient searching, insertion, and deletion operations, as the height of the tree is typically balanced, resulting in a time complexity of O(log n) for these operations.