In a doubly linked list, what is the time complexity of deleting a node given a
Practice Questions
Q1
In a doubly linked list, what is the time complexity of deleting a node given a pointer to that node?
O(1)
O(n)
O(log n)
O(n^2)
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
In a doubly linked list, what is the time complexity of deleting a node given a pointer to that node?
Step 1: Understand what a doubly linked list is. It is a data structure where each node has a pointer to the next node and a pointer to the previous node.
Step 2: Recognize that when you want to delete a node, you already have a pointer to that specific node.
Step 3: Identify the adjacent nodes of the node you want to delete. These are the previous node and the next node.
Step 4: Adjust the pointers of the previous node and the next node. The previous node's next pointer should point to the next node, and the next node's previous pointer should point to the previous node.
Step 5: Since you are only changing a few pointers and not traversing the list, this operation takes a constant amount of time.
Step 6: Conclude that the time complexity for deleting a node when you have a pointer to it is O(1).