What is the average time complexity of searching for an element in a stack?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the average time complexity of searching for an element in a stack?
O(1)
O(n)
O(log n)
O(n^2)
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the average time complexity of searching for an element in 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: Know that to search for an element in a stack, you have to look at each element one by one.
Step 3: Realize that in the worst case, you might have to check every single element in the stack to find the one you are looking for.
Step 4: Since the stack can have 'n' elements, the time it takes to search can be proportional to 'n'.
Step 5: Therefore, the average time complexity for searching for an element in a stack is O(n).
