Question

What is the runtime to access the maximal element (root) of a heap?

A. O(1)
B. O(log n)
C. O(n)
D. O(n log n)

Answer 1

The runtime to access the maximal element (root) of a heap is O(1) because in a max heap, the maximal element is always at the root and can be accessed directly.

Step-by-step explanation:

The runtime to access the maximal element (root) of a heap is O(1). Heaps are a special tree-based data structure in which the heap property is always maintained. In a max heap, the maximal element is at the root of the tree, and it can be accessed directly; therefore, the operation to access the root element is constant time or O(1), meaning it takes the same amount of time regardless of the size of the heap.