Mastering Min Heap Binary Trees: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

A min heap is a binary tree data structure that satisfies the heap property, where the parent node is always less than or equal to its children. In a min heap, the root node is always the minimum value in the tree.

Skills Graph

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Min Heap

Problem

Implement a min heap with the following methods:

extract_min(): removes and returns the minimum value in the heap

insert(value): inserts a new value into the heap while maintaining the heap property

Requirements

The implementation should meet the following requirements:

The inputs are integers

The implementation should fit in memory

Example Usage

Consider the following min heap:

_5_ / \ 20 15 / \ / \ 22 40 25

extract_min(): removes and returns the minimum value in the heap, which is 5. The resulting heap is:

_15_ / \ 20 25 / \ / \ 22 40

insert(2): inserts the value 2 into the heap while maintaining the heap property. The resulting heap is:

_2_ / \ 20 5 / \ / \ 22 40 25 15

Summary

In summary, a min heap is a binary tree data structure that maintains the heap property, where the parent node is always less than or equal to its children. The implementation of a min heap should include the extract_min() and insert(value) methods, and meet the requirements of integer inputs and fitting in memory.

Min Heap Binary Tree Introduction