Data Science Fundamentals

A heap is a complete binary tree that satisfies the heap property, which comes in two forms. In a max heap, the value of each parent node (including the root) is greater than or equal to the values of its children, meaning the maximum element is always located at the root. This is the defining characteristic that distinguishes a max heap from a min heap, where the parent is less than or equal to its children and the minimum value sits at the root.