A Treap is a hybrid data structure that combines the properties of a binary search tree (BST) and a heap. Each node in a Treap contains a key and a priority; the keys are organized in a binary search tree fashion, meaning that for any given node, all keys in the left subtree are less than the node's key, while all keys in the right subtree are greater. Additionally, the nodes are arranged according to their priorities, which follow the min-heap property; this means that each node's priority is greater than or equal to the priorities of its children.
The combination of these two structures allows for efficient operations such as insertion, deletion, and search, all of which have an average time complexity of . A unique aspect of Treaps is that the priorities are typically assigned randomly, ensuring that the tree remains balanced with high probability. This randomness helps to achieve good performance in practice, making Treaps a popular choice for various applications, including dynamic sets and priority queues.
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