Searching Algorithms Questions Medium
The time complexity of searching in a skip list is O(log n), where n is the number of elements in the skip list.
Skip lists are a data structure that allows for efficient searching, insertion, and deletion operations. They are similar to linked lists, but with multiple layers of linked lists, called "levels," that allow for faster searching.
When searching in a skip list, the algorithm starts at the top level and moves forward until it finds a node with a value greater than or equal to the target value. Then, it moves down to the next level and repeats the process until it reaches the bottom level or finds the target value.
Since each level in a skip list has fewer elements than the level below it, the search process effectively skips over a portion of the list with each level. This skipping behavior reduces the number of comparisons needed to find the target value, resulting in a time complexity of O(log n).
In the worst case scenario, where the target value is not present in the skip list, the search algorithm will traverse all levels until it reaches the bottom level. This worst-case scenario still has a time complexity of O(log n) because the number of levels in a skip list is limited by log n.