A Binary Heap is a Binary Tree with following properties.
1) It’s a complete tree (All levels are completely filled except possibly the last level and the last level has all keys as left as possible). This property of Binary Heap makes them suitable to be stored in an array.
2) A Binary Heap is either Min Heap or Max Heap. In a Min Binary Heap, the key at root must be minimum among all keys present in Binary Heap. The same property must be recursively true for all nodes in Binary Tree. Max Binary Heap is similar to MinHeap.
Examples of Min Heap:
10 10
/ \ / \
20 100 15 30
/ / \ / \
30 40 50 100 40
How is Binary Heap represented?
A Binary Heap is a Complete Binary Tree. A binary heap is typically represented as an array.
- The root element will be at Arr[0].
- Below table shows indexes of other nodes for the ith node, i.e., Arr[i]:
Arr[(i-1)/2] Returns the parent node Arr[(2*i)+1] Returns the left child node Arr[(2*i)+2] Returns the right child node The traversal method use to achieve Array representation is Level Order

Please refer Array Representation Of Binary Heap for details.
Applications of Heaps:
1) Heap Sort: Heap Sort uses Binary Heap to sort an array in O(nLogn) time.2) Priority Queue: Priority queues can be efficiently implemented using Binary Heap because it supports insert(), delete() and extractmax(), decreaseKey() operations in O(logn) time. Binomoial Heap and Fibonacci Heap are variations of Binary Heap. These variations perform union also efficiently.
3) Graph Algorithms: The priority queues are especially used in Graph Algorithms like Dijkstra’s Shortest Path and Prim’s Minimum Spanning Tree.
4) Many problems can be efficiently solved using Heaps. See following for example.
a) K’th Largest Element in an array.
b) Sort an almost sorted array/
c) Merge K Sorted Arrays.Operations on Min Heap:
1) getMini(): It returns the root element of Min Heap. Time Complexity of this operation is O(1).2) extractMin(): Removes the minimum element from MinHeap. Time Complexity of this Operation is O(Logn) as this operation needs to maintain the heap property (by calling heapify()) after removing root.
3) decreaseKey(): Decreases value of key. The time complexity of this operation is O(Logn). If the decreases key value of a node is greater than the parent of the node, then we don’t need to do anything. Otherwise, we need to traverse up to fix the violated heap property.
4) insert(): Inserting a new key takes O(Logn) time. We add a new key at the end of the tree. IF new key is greater than its parent, then we don’t need to do anything. Otherwise, we need to traverse up to fix the violated heap property.
5) delete(): Deleting a key also takes O(Logn) time. We replace the key to be deleted with minum infinite by calling decreaseKey(). After decreaseKey(), the minus infinite value must reach root, so we call extractMin() to remove the key.
Below is the implementation of basic heap operations.
C++
// A C++ program to demonstrate common Binary Heap Operations#include<iostream>#include<climits>usingnamespacestd;// Prototype of a utility function to swap two integersvoidswap(int*x,int*y);// A class for Min HeapclassMinHeap{int*harr;// pointer to array of elements in heapintcapacity;// maximum possible size of min heapintheap_size;// Current number of elements in min heappublic:// ConstructorMinHeap(intcapacity);// to heapify a subtree with the root at given indexvoidMinHeapify(int);intparent(inti) {return(i-1)/2; }// to get index of left child of node at index iintleft(inti) {return(2*i + 1); }// to get index of right child of node at index iintright(inti) {return(2*i + 2); }// to extract the root which is the minimum elementintextractMin();// Decreases key value of key at index i to new_valvoiddecreaseKey(inti,intnew_val);// Returns the minimum key (key at root) from min heapintgetMin() {returnharr[0]; }// Deletes a key stored at index ivoiddeleteKey(inti);// Inserts a new key 'k'voidinsertKey(intk);};// Constructor: Builds a heap from a given array a[] of given sizeMinHeap::MinHeap(intcap){heap_size = 0;capacity = cap;harr =newint[cap];}// Inserts a new key 'k'voidMinHeap::insertKey(intk){if(heap_size == capacity){cout <<"\nOverflow: Could not insertKey\n";return;}// First insert the new key at the endheap_size++;inti = heap_size - 1;harr[i] = k;// Fix the min heap property if it is violatedwhile(i != 0 && harr[parent(i)] > harr[i]){swap(↔[i], ↔[parent(i)]);i = parent(i);}}// Decreases value of key at index 'i' to new_val. It is assumed that// new_val is smaller than harr[i].voidMinHeap::decreaseKey(inti,intnew_val){harr[i] = new_val;while(i != 0 && harr[parent(i)] > harr[i]){swap(↔[i], ↔[parent(i)]);i = parent(i);}}// Method to remove minimum element (or root) from min heapintMinHeap::extractMin(){if(heap_size <= 0)returnINT_MAX;if(heap_size == 1){heap_size--;returnharr[0];}// Store the minimum value, and remove it from heapintroot = harr[0];harr[0] = harr[heap_size-1];heap_size--;MinHeapify(0);returnroot;}// This function deletes key at index i. It first reduced value to minus// infinite, then calls extractMin()voidMinHeap::deleteKey(inti){decreaseKey(i, INT_MIN);extractMin();}// A recursive method to heapify a subtree with the root at given index// This method assumes that the subtrees are already heapifiedvoidMinHeap::MinHeapify(inti){intl = left(i);intr = right(i);intsmallest = i;if(l < heap_size && harr[l] < harr[i])smallest = l;if(r < heap_size && harr[r] < harr[smallest])smallest = r;if(smallest != i){swap(↔[i], ↔[smallest]);MinHeapify(smallest);}}// A utility function to swap two elementsvoidswap(int*x,int*y){inttemp = *x;*x = *y;*y = temp;}// Driver program to test above functionsintmain(){MinHeap h(11);h.insertKey(3);h.insertKey(2);h.deleteKey(1);h.insertKey(15);h.insertKey(5);h.insertKey(4);h.insertKey(45);cout << h.extractMin() <<" ";cout << h.getMin() <<" ";h.decreaseKey(2, 1);cout << h.getMin();return0;}Python
# A Python program to demonstrate common binary heap operations# Import the heap functions from python libraryfromheapqimportheappush, heappop, heapify# heappop - pop and return the smallest element from heap# heappush - push the value item onto the heap, maintaining# heap invarient# heapify - transform list into heap, in place, in linear time# A class for Min HeapclassMinHeap:# Constructor to initialize a heapdef__init__(self):self.heap=[]defparent(self, i):return(i-1)/2# Inserts a new key 'k'definsertKey(self, k):heappush(self.heap, k)# Decrease value of key at index 'i' to new_val# It is assumed that new_val is smaller than heap[i]defdecreaseKey(self, i, new_val):self.heap[i]=new_valwhile(i !=0andself.heap[self.parent(i)] >self.heap[i]):# Swap heap[i] with heap[parent(i)]self.heap[i] ,self.heap[self.parent(i)]=(self.heap[self.parent(i)],self.heap[i])# Method to remove minium element from min heapdefextractMin(self):returnheappop(self.heap)# This functon deletes key at index i. It first reduces# value to minus infinite and then calls extractMin()defdeleteKey(self, i):self.decreaseKey(i,float("-inf"))self.extractMin()# Get the minimum element from the heapdefgetMin(self):returnself.heap[0]# Driver pgoratm to test above functionheapObj=MinHeap()heapObj.insertKey(3)heapObj.insertKey(2)heapObj.deleteKey(1)heapObj.insertKey(15)heapObj.insertKey(5)heapObj.insertKey(4)heapObj.insertKey(45)printheapObj.extractMin(),printheapObj.getMin(),heapObj.decreaseKey(2,1)printheapObj.getMin()# This code is contributed by Nikhil Kumar Singh(nickzuck_007)C#
// C# program to demonstrate common// Binary Heap Operations - Min HeapusingSystem;// A class for Min HeapclassMinHeap{// To store array of elements in heappublicint[] heapArray{get;set; }// max size of the heappublicintcapacity{get;set; }// Current number of elements in the heappublicintcurrent_heap_size{get;set; }// ConstructorpublicMinHeap(intn){capacity = n;heapArray =newint[capacity];current_heap_size = 0;}// Swapping using referencepublicstaticvoidSwap<T>(refT lhs,refT rhs){T temp = lhs;lhs = rhs;rhs = temp;}// Get the Parent index for the given indexpublicintParent(intkey){return(key - 1) / 2;}// Get the Left Child index for the given indexpublicintLeft(intkey){return2 * key + 1;}// Get the Right Child index for the given indexpublicintRight(intkey){return2 * key + 2;}// Inserts a new keypublicboolinsertKey(intkey){if(current_heap_size == capacity){// heap is fullreturnfalse;}// First insert the new key at the endinti = current_heap_size;heapArray[i] = key;current_heap_size++;// Fix the min heap property if it is violatedwhile(i != 0 && heapArray[i] <heapArray[Parent(i)]){Swap(refheapArray[i],refheapArray[Parent(i)]);i = Parent(i);}returntrue;}// Decreases value of given key to new_val.// It is assumed that new_val is smaller// than heapArray[key].publicvoiddecreaseKey(intkey,intnew_val){heapArray[key] = new_val;while(key != 0 && heapArray[key] <heapArray[Parent(key)]){Swap(refheapArray[key],refheapArray[Parent(key)]);key = Parent(key);}}// Returns the minimum key (key at// root) from min heappublicintgetMin(){returnheapArray[0];}// Method to remove minimum element// (or root) from min heappublicintextractMin(){if(current_heap_size <= 0){returnint.MaxValue;}if(current_heap_size == 1){current_heap_size--;returnheapArray[0];}// Store the minimum value,// and remove it from heapintroot = heapArray[0];heapArray[0] = heapArray[current_heap_size - 1];current_heap_size--;MinHeapify(0);returnroot;}// This function deletes key at the// given index. It first reduced value// to minus infinite, then calls extractMin()publicvoiddeleteKey(intkey){decreaseKey(key,int.MinValue);extractMin();}// A recursive method to heapify a subtree// with the root at given index// This method assumes that the subtrees// are already heapifiedpublicvoidMinHeapify(intkey){intl = Left(key);intr = Right(key);intsmallest = key;if(l < current_heap_size &&heapArray[l] < heapArray[smallest]){smallest = l;}if(r < current_heap_size &&heapArray[r] < heapArray[smallest]){smallest = r;}if(smallest != key){Swap(refheapArray[key],refheapArray[smallest]);MinHeapify(smallest);}}// Increases value of given key to new_val.// It is assumed that new_val is greater// than heapArray[key].// Heapify from the given keypublicvoidincreaseKey(intkey,intnew_val){heapArray[key] = new_val;MinHeapify(key);}// Changes value on a keypublicvoidchangeValueOnAKey(intkey,intnew_val){if(heapArray[key] == new_val){return;}if(heapArray[key] < new_val){increaseKey(key, new_val);}else{decreaseKey(key, new_val);}}}staticclassMinHeapTest{// Driver codepublicstaticvoidMain(string[] args){MinHeap h =newMinHeap(11);h.insertKey(3);h.insertKey(2);h.deleteKey(1);h.insertKey(15);h.insertKey(5);h.insertKey(4);h.insertKey(45);Console.Write(h.extractMin() +" ");Console.Write(h.getMin() +" ");h.decreaseKey(2, 1);Console.Write(h.getMin());}}// This code is contributed by// Dinesh Clinton Albert(dineshclinton)
Output:2 4 1
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