What is the primary use of a queue in tree traversal?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the primary use of a queue in tree traversal?
To store nodes for depth-first search
To store nodes for breadth-first search
To store nodes for sorting
To store nodes for searching
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the primary use of a queue in tree traversal?
Step 1: Understand what a tree is. A tree is a data structure made up of nodes, where each node can have children.
Step 2: Learn about tree traversal. Tree traversal means visiting all the nodes in a tree in a specific order.
Step 3: Know the two main types of tree traversal: depth-first search (DFS) and breadth-first search (BFS).
Step 4: Focus on breadth-first search (BFS). In BFS, we visit all the nodes at the present depth level before moving on to the nodes at the next depth level.
Step 5: Understand the role of a queue in BFS. A queue is a data structure that follows the First In, First Out (FIFO) principle.
Step 6: In BFS, we use a queue to keep track of which nodes we need to visit next. We add nodes to the queue as we discover them.
Step 7: When we visit a node, we remove it from the front of the queue and then add its children to the back of the queue.
Step 8: This process continues until all nodes have been visited, ensuring that we explore each level of the tree before moving deeper.