What is the time complexity of a queue's enqueue operation in a linked list impl
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the time complexity of a queue's enqueue operation in a linked list implementation?
O(1)
O(n)
O(log n)
O(n log n)
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the time complexity of a queue's enqueue operation in a linked list implementation?
Step 1: Understand what a queue is. A queue is a data structure that follows the First In First Out (FIFO) principle, meaning the first element added is the first one to be removed.
Step 2: Know what enqueue means. Enqueue is the operation of adding an element to the end of the queue.
Step 3: Learn about linked lists. A linked list is a way to store data where each element (node) points to the next one, allowing for dynamic size.
Step 4: Identify where the new element is added in a linked list. In a linked list implementation of a queue, the new element is added at the end of the list.
Step 5: Understand how to add an element to the end of a linked list. To add an element, you simply create a new node and adjust the pointers so that the last node points to this new node.
Step 6: Determine the time it takes to perform the enqueue operation. Since you can directly access the last node and add the new node without needing to traverse the list, this operation takes a constant amount of time.
Step 7: Conclude the time complexity. Because the enqueue operation takes a constant amount of time, its time complexity is O(1).