Understanding Binary Search Tree (BST) Terminology

Learn about Binary Search Trees (BST), their terminology, and how they optimize data operations.

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BST stands for Binary Search Tree. It's a data structure that facilitates fast lookup, insertion, and deletion operations. In a BST, each node has at most two children, often referred to as the left and right child. The left node contains values less than the parent node, whereas the right node contains values greater than the parent node. This property maintains order and allows for efficient searching operations.

FAQs & Answers

  1. What is a Binary Search Tree? A Binary Search Tree (BST) is a data structure that allows for efficient data retrieval, insertion, and deletion, structured so that left child nodes contain values less than their parent nodes and right child nodes contain greater values.
  2. How does a BST maintain order? A BST maintains order by ensuring that each node’s left child has a value less than its parent, and each right child has a value greater, thus facilitating efficient searching.
  3. What are the advantages of using BSTs? BSTs allow for fast lookup, insertion, and deletion operations, making them ideal for search-heavy applications and datasets.
  4. What is the time complexity of BST operations? The average time complexity for lookups, insertions, and deletions in a balanced Binary Search Tree is O(log n), but can degrade to O(n) in cases of unbalanced trees.