What is the worst-case time complexity of searching in a completely skewed Binary Search Tree containing N nodes?
Options
- A. O(1)
- B. O(log N)
- C. O(N)
- D. More than one of the above
- E. None of the above
Quiz Practice:
C. O(N)
A completely skewed BST has a structure similar to a linked list. Consequently, searching for an element may require visiting every node, giving a worst-case time complexity of O(N). In a balanced BST, the height is approximately O(log N), allowing search in logarithmic time. Self-balancing trees such as AVL trees and Red-Black trees help maintain logarithmic height.