What is the time complexity of accessing the top element of a stack?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the time complexity of accessing the top element of a stack?
O(1)
O(n)
O(log n)
O(n^2)
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the time complexity of accessing the top element of a stack?
Step 1: Understand what a stack is. A stack is a data structure that follows the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle, meaning the last element added is the first one to be removed.
Step 2: Identify how to access the top element of a stack. The top element is the most recently added item.
Step 3: Realize that accessing the top element does not require searching through the stack. You can directly access it.
Step 4: Note that accessing an element directly without any loops or additional operations is considered constant time.
Step 5: Conclude that the time complexity for accessing the top element of a stack is O(1), which means it takes the same amount of time regardless of the size of the stack.
