What is the time complexity of searching for an element in a hash table?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the time complexity of searching for an element in a hash table?
O(1)
O(n)
O(log n)
O(n log n)
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the time complexity of searching for an element in a hash table?
Step 1: Understand what a hash table is. A hash table is a data structure that stores data in a way that allows for fast access.
Step 2: Learn about the concept of 'hashing'. Hashing is a process that converts a key (like a name or number) into a specific index in the hash table.
Step 3: Know that when you want to find an element, you use its key to calculate the index where it should be stored.
Step 4: If there are no collisions (when two keys hash to the same index), you can directly access the element at that index.
Step 5: Since accessing an index in an array (which is how a hash table is implemented) takes a constant amount of time, we say the search time is O(1).
Step 6: However, if there are collisions, the search time can increase, but in an ideal scenario with no collisions, it remains O(1).
