Question

Given a singly linked list implementation of a list, what is the worst-case time complexity for the following operations (assume that the implementation only maintains a reference to the head of the linked list):

Adding an item to the end of the list.

Answer 1

The worst-case time complexity for adding an item to the end of a singly linked list is O(n), where n is the number of elements in the list.

Step-by-step explanation:

The worst-case time complexity for adding an item to the end of a singly linked list is O(n), where n is the number of elements in the list. In order to add an item to the end of the list, we need to traverse the entire list until we reach the last node, and then perform the insertion. This requires visiting each node one by one, which takes linear time.

For example, let's say we have a linked list with 10 elements. In order to add an item to the end, we need to traverse 10 nodes, taking O(10) = O(n) time.

It's worth noting that if we maintain a reference to the tail of the linked list, we can perform the insertion in constant time, by simply updating the next pointer of the tail node. However, if we only have a reference to the head of the linked list, we need to traverse the entire list to reach the end, resulting in a worst-case time complexity of O(n).