Question

Which statement is incorrect about the miniμm priority queue (MPQ) used by the Huffman algorithm for files comparisons?

a) The miniμm element is always at the root.

b) The MPQ is implemented using a max heap.

c) Elements are assigned frequencies.

d) Smaller frequencies have higher priority.

Answer 1

The incorrect statement is that the minimum priority queue used in the Huffman algorithm is implemented using a max heap. The correct implementation is a min-heap, where elements with lower frequencies are given higher priority.

Step-by-step explanation:

The incorrect statement about the minimum priority queue (MPQ) used by the Huffman algorithm for file comparisons is: b) The MPQ is implemented using a max heap.

The correct implementation of a priority queue for the Huffman algorithm should be a min-heap, where the smallest element, typically representing the lowest frequency, has the highest priority and is always found at the root of the heap. In the context of Huffman coding, characters or sets of characters (keys) are assigned frequencies based on their occurrence in the file to be compressed. These frequencies determine the priority of the elements in the queue, with smaller frequencies being given higher priority to ensure a more efficient compression.