Heap Data Structures Quiz

Heap Data Structure

• The defining property of a max heap is that for any given node I, if P(I) is the parent node of I, then the value of P(I) is greater than or equal to the value of I.
• The node at the top of a heap with no parents is called the root node.
• A heap is a specialized tree-based data structure that satisfies the heap property, and is used to implement a priority queue, a data structure that allows elements to be inserted and extracted in a specific order.
• A heap differs from a sorted structure in that it is a complete binary tree, where every level of the tree is fully filled except possibly the last level, which is filled from left to right.
• A heap is a useful data structure when it is necessary to repeatedly remove the maximum or minimum element, making it suitable for priority queue implementations.
• The top-level view of a staircase is used to explain the array representation of a heap, where each step in the staircase represents a level in the heap.
• Elements in an array are uniquely identified by their indices, which are used to locate specific elements in the array.
• The main method of identifying elements in an array is by using their indices, which can be thought of as room numbers on a staircase.
• An array element can be thought of as a person standing on a staircase, where each person has a unique room number (index) that identifies them.
• The primary way to uniquely identify elements in an array is by their indices, which are numbered from 0 to n-1, where n is the size of the array.