B.S.W.E. Bachelor of Software Engineering Algorithms & Data Structures 2

Question 1

What property defines a binary search tree (BST)?

Accepted Answer

Left subtree values are smaller and right subtree values are larger than each node

Answer

A BST ensures each node's left subtree contains only smaller values and the right subtree contains only larger values, enabling O(log n) average search.

Question 2

What is dynamic programming?

Accepted Answer

An optimization technique solving problems by breaking them into overlapping subproblems and caching results

Answer

Dynamic programming solves problems by breaking them into overlapping subproblems, storing results (memoization) to avoid redundant computation.

Question 3

What is the time complexity of merge sort in all cases?

Accepted Answer

O(n log n)

Answer

Merge sort guarantees O(n log n) in best, average, and worst cases because it always divides the array in half and merges linearly.

Question 4

What distinguishes breadth-first search (BFS) from depth-first search (DFS)?

Accepted Answer

BFS visits all neighbors at the current level before going deeper; DFS goes as deep as possible first

Answer

BFS explores a graph level by level using a queue, visiting all nodes at depth d before any node at depth d+1.

Question 5

What is a linked list?

Accepted Answer

A linear data structure where each node contains data and a pointer to the next node

Answer

A linked list is a chain of nodes where each node stores data and a reference (pointer) to the next node in the sequence.

B.S.W.E. Bachelor of Software Engineering Practice Test

B.S.W.E. Bachelor of Software Engineering Practice Test

B.S.W.E. Bachelor of Software Engineering Algorithms & Data Structures 2