Question 1

What is the main difference between a Heap and a BST?

Accepted Answer

The main difference lies in their ordering property. A BST has a strict ordering: all nodes to the left of a parent are smaller, and all nodes to the right are larger. A Heap only has a partial order: a parent is always greater than or equal to its children (in a max-heap) or less than or equal to its children (in a min-heap), but there is no specific ordering between the children.

Question 2

When is a Heap more suitable than a BST?

Accepted Answer

A Heap is more suitable than a BST when you need to efficiently find the minimum or maximum element. Heaps are ideal for implementing priority queues because they provide O(1) access to the min/max element and O(log n) for insertions and deletions. Searching for an arbitrary element is O(n) in a heap, whereas it is O(log n) in a balanced BST.

Heap vs. BST Interview Questions

Related Algorithm Guides