Introduction to Min-Heap Data Structure

What is Min-Heap

A Min-Heap is defined as a type of Heap Data Structure in which each node is smaller than or equal to its children.

The heap data structure is a type of binary tree that is commonly used in computer science for various purposes, including sorting, searching and organizing data.

Use Cases of Min-Heap

1. Priority Queue: One of the primary uses of the heap data structure is for implementing priority queues
2. Dijkstra’s Algorithm: Dijkstra’s algorithm is a shortest path algorithm that finds the shortest path between two nodes in a graph. A min heap can be used to keep track of the unvisited nodes with the smallest distance from the source node.
3. Sorting: A min heap can be used as a sorting algorithm to efficiently sort a collection of elements in ascending order.
4. Median finding: A min heap can be used to efficiently find the median of a stream of numbers. We can use one min heap to store the larger half of the numbers and one max heap to store the smaller half. The median will be the root of the min heap.