Min Heap
Min heap is a specific instance of a binary heap where the value of each node is less than or equal to the values of its children. Min heaps are particularly useful when the goal is to efficiently find and extract the minimum element from a collection.
- Characteristics:
- Parent’s value is less than or equal to children’s values.
- Uses:
- Finding and extracting the minimum element efficiently.
- Applications:
- Prim’s minimum spanning tree algorithm.
- Efficiently solving the “k smallest/largest elements” problem.
Problem | Description |
---|---|
Extract Minimum Element | Implement the extraction of the minimum element in a min heap. |
Merge Two Min Heaps | Efficiently merge two min heaps into a single min heap. |
Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm | Use a min heap to implement Dijkstra’s algorithm for finding the shortest paths in a graph. |
Prim’s Minimum Spanning Tree | Implement Prim’s algorithm using a min heap to find a minimum spanning tree in a graph. |
Running Median | Maintain the median of a stream of numbers efficiently using a min heap. |
Types of Heap Data Structure
Different types of heap data structures include fundamental types like min heap and max heap, binary heap and many more. In this post, we will look into their characteristics, and their use cases. Understanding the characteristics and use cases of these heap data structures helps in choosing the most suitable one for a particular algorithm or application. Each type of heap has its own advantages and trade-offs, and the choice depends on the specific requirements of the problem at hand.
Table of Content
- 1. Binary Heap
- 2. Min Heap
- 3. Max Heap
- 4. Binomial Heap
- 5. Fibonacci Heap
- 6. D-ary Heap
- 7. Pairing Heap
- 8. Leftist Heap
- 9. Skew Heap
- 10. B-Heap
- Comparison between different types of Heap
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