Step 1: Understand what a linked list is. A linked list is a data structure made up of nodes, where each node contains data and a reference (or link) to the next node.
Step 2: Recognize that each node in a linked list requires space to store its data and the link to the next node.
Step 3: Count the number of nodes in the linked list. If there are 'n' nodes, then there will be 'n' spaces needed for the data and 'n' spaces for the links.
Step 4: Combine the space needed for all nodes. Since each node requires a constant amount of space, the total space required is proportional to the number of nodes, which is 'n'.
Step 5: Conclude that the space complexity of a linked list is O(n), meaning it grows linearly with the number of elements.
