Hard-Level MCQs on Data Structures

and Algorithms
1. 1. What is the primary advantage of using an expression tree over a standard binary
tree for evaluating mathematical expressions?

 A) Lower memory usage

 B) Ability to handle all types of operators and operands
 C) Simple implementation
 D) Faster search time

Answer: B

2. 2. Given an expression tree where each leaf node contains a number and each internal
node contains an operator, what traversal method is used to evaluate the expression?

 A) Preorder
 B) Inorder
 C) Postorder
 D) Level-order

Answer: C

3. 3. In an expression tree, which traversal method gives the infix notation of the
expression?

 A) Preorder
 B) Inorder
 C) Postorder
 D) Level-order

Answer: B

4. 4. Which of the following cannot be represented by an expression tree?

 A) Polynomial expressions
 B) Logical expressions
 C) Set expressions
 D) Regular expressions
Answer: D

5. 5. If an expression tree has a depth of d, what is the time complexity of evaluating the
expression?

 A) O(d)
 B) O(d^2)
 C) O(2^d)
 D) O(log d)

Answer: A

6. 6. In a binary tree, if you perform an inorder traversal and receive the output as sorted,
what does this indicate?

 A) The tree is balanced

 B) The tree is an AVL tree
 C) The tree is a Binary Search Tree (BST)
 D) The tree is a complete binary tree

Answer: C

7. 7. Which traversal technique is used in depth-first traversal of a binary tree?

 A) Level-order
 B) Preorder
 C) Postorder
 D) Both B and C

Answer: D

8. 8. For a complete binary tree with n nodes, what is the time complexity of a level-order
traversal?

 A) O(n)
 B) O(log n)
 C) O(n log n)
 D) O(n^2)

Answer: A
9. 9. Which of the following statements is true for preorder traversal in a binary tree?

 A) It visits nodes in ascending order.

 B) It visits the root before its subtrees.
 C) It visits all leaf nodes before non-leaf nodes.
 D) It visits nodes level by level.

Answer: B

10. 10. In which traversal technique are nodes visited in the order "Left, Root, Right"?

 A) Inorder
 B) Preorder
 C) Postorder
 D) Level-order

Answer: A

11. 11. What is the maximum height of an AVL tree with n nodes?

 A) O(n)
 B) O(log n)
 C) O(n log n)
 D) O(sqrt(n))

Answer: B

12. 12. When does an AVL tree become unbalanced?

 A) When the height difference between left and right subtrees exceeds 1
 B) When the height difference between left and right subtrees is 0
 C) When the height difference between left and right subtrees exceeds 2
 D) When the height difference between left and right subtrees is 1

Answer: A

13. 13. In an AVL tree, what type of rotation is required if an insertion causes a right-right
(RR) imbalance?
 A) Right Rotation
 B) Left Rotation
 C) Left-Right Rotation
 D) Right-Left Rotation

Answer: B

14. 14. In which situation would you apply a double rotation on an AVL tree?

 A) Right-Right imbalance
 B) Left-Left imbalance
 C) Left-Right or Right-Left imbalance
 D) When the tree is already balanced

Answer: C

15. 15. What is the balance factor of a node in an AVL tree that has a left subtree of height 3
and a right subtree of height 1?

 A) 3
 B) 1
 C) -2
 D) 2

Answer: D

16. 16. Which hashing technique allows elements with the same hash value to be stored in a
linked list at each index of the hash table?

 A) Linear Probing
 B) Chaining
 C) Double Hashing
 D) Quadratic Probing

Answer: B

17. 17. What is the main issue that occurs in a hash table when two elements are hashed to
the same index?

 A) Clustering
 B) Chaining
 C) Collision
 D) Overloading

Answer: C

18. 18. Which of the following hashing techniques can reduce primary clustering?

 A) Linear Probing
 B) Quadratic Probing
 C) Double Hashing
 D) Both B and C

Answer: D

19. 19. In a hash table, which method is used to handle collisions by searching linearly
through the table?

 A) Linear Probing
 B) Quadratic Probing
 C) Chaining
 D) Rehashing

Answer: A

20. 20. Which of the following is a disadvantage of chaining in hash tables?

 A) Increased memory usage

 B) Increased search time
 C) Increased insertion time
 D) Increased collision rate

Answer: A

21. 21. Which graph traversal algorithm is typically used for finding the shortest path in an
unweighted graph?

 A) Depth-First Search
 B) Breadth-First Search
 C) Dijkstra’s Algorithm
 D) Floyd-Warshall Algorithm
Answer: B

22. 22. What is the time complexity of Depth-First Search (DFS) in an adjacency list
representation of a graph with V vertices and E edges?

 A) O(V + E)
 B) O(V^2)
 C) O(V^2 + E)
 D) O(E)

Answer: A

23. 23. Which traversal algorithm is most suitable for detecting cycles in an undirected
graph?

 A) Breadth-First Search
 B) Depth-First Search
 C) Prim’s Algorithm
 D) Kruskal’s Algorithm

Answer: B

24. 24. In a Depth-First Search (DFS) traversal of a graph, what data structure is typically
used to keep track of the traversal path?

 A) Queue
 B) Stack
 C) Array
 D) Linked List

Answer: B

25. 25. Which algorithm is more efficient for finding a Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) in a
dense graph?

 A) Prim’s Algorithm
 B) Kruskal’s Algorithm
 C) Dijkstra’s Algorithm
 D) Bellman-Ford Algorithm

Answer: A