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A binary heap represents a priority queue as a complete binary tree obeying a heap order. We use the minimum convention: the priority of every parent in a rooted tree is no greater than the priorities of its children in a rooted tree. Equal priorities are allowed. Each stored entry may be a record carrying a priority key; the numerical example below displays only keys. Reversing the inequalities gives the maximum convention.

The complete binary tree can be stored directly in a zero-indexed array $A=(A_0,\dots ,A_{n-1})$: read its levels from top to bottom, left to right. The root of a tree is at index $0$. The possible children in a rooted tree of index $i$ are at $2i+1$ and $2i+2$, and an index denotes a present entry only when it is less than $n$. For $i>0$, its parent in a rooted tree is at $\lfloor (i-1)/2\rfloor$, using the floor function. Thus the links of the complete binary tree are determined by arithmetic rather than separately stored pointers.

ConsiderThe children in a rooted tree of index $0$ have keys $5,3$; those of index $1$ have keys $9,7$; those of index $2$ have keys $8,4$. The six comparisons $2\le 5$, $2\le 3$, $5\le 9$, $5\le 7$, $3\le 8$, $3\le 4$ establish the heap order. At index $4$, the parent in a rooted tree is index $\lfloor (4-1)/2\rfloor =1$, carrying key $5$.

The array is visibly not a sorted array: $5$ precedes $3$, and $8$ precedes $4$. Nor is the last entry a maximum: it is $4$, whereas the maximum is $9$ at index $3$. The heap order compares ancestors and descendants, without imposing an order between separate branches. Nevertheless, following the graph path from the root of a tree to any entry gives a chain of nondecreasing priorities. This short argument proves that peek can return $A_0$, a minimum, without inspecting the other entries.

Insertion appends an entry to the array, preserving the shape of the complete binary tree, then uses sift up to repair the heap order. Insert key $1$ into the displayed binary heap. It is appended at index $7$, and exchanges with indices $3$, $1$, then $0$:The moving key follows $7\to 3\to 1\to 0$; the keys $9,5,2$ each move down one level. Only this chain needs repair.

Now apply extract-min. Save key $1$, move the last key $9$ to the root of a tree, and shorten the array to length $7$. Use sift down, always choosing the smaller of the present children in a rooted tree:First $9$ exchanges with key $2$ at index $1$, since $2<3$; then with key $5$ at index $3$, since $5<7$. At index $3$, the possible children in a rooted tree would be indices $7,8$, both outside the shortened array, so the process stops. The returned key is $1$, and the remaining binary heap is exactly the original one.

For a nonempty binary heap with $n$ entries, the deepest level is $\lfloor {\log }_{2}n\rfloor$, using the floor function and logarithm. Each exchange moves one level and uses only a bounded number of comparisons. The resulting time complexity bounds, expressed in Big O notation, are:

These bounds assume constant-cost indexed access, key comparisons and exchanges, and available array capacity for insertion. Allocating and copying a larger array is a separate cost. Empty and one-entry cases take constant work.

To build a binary heap, begin at index $\lfloor n/2\rfloor -1$ and work backwards. Entries without children in a rooted tree already obey the heap order. Each sift down, also called heapify down, starts with every present smaller rooted tree below it already repaired. Most entries are close to the bottom and can move very little; successively longer repair distances occur for geometrically fewer entries. Summing these distances gives $O(n)$ work, rather than charging $O(\log n)$ to every entry. MIT's notes give this bottom-up construction and contrast it with repeated insertion.^[ref]

The Dijkstra algorithm additionally needs to decrease the priority of an existing vertex when its tentative distance improves. Given its current index, lowering the key followed by sift up takes $O(\log n)$ time for $n\ge 2$. An indexed binary heap maintains a separate map from item identity to its current index and updates that map after every exchange. For vertices numbered in a fixed range, the map can be another array, giving constant-time index lookup. An ordinary unindexed binary heap supplies no such guarantee: locating an arbitrary item can require scanning $n$ entries. Item identity and priority must remain distinct, especially when several vertices have equal tentative distances.

The attractive compromise is local organization with global usefulness. A binary heap maintains only the heap order, yet every extract-min gives the next smallest key. Repeated extraction of the original example gives $2,3,4,5,7,8,9$, so a priority queue also supplies a sorting algorithm without storing a sorted array between extractions.

Construct a binary heap from an array by processing internal nodes backwards, applying sift down at each. The complete binary tree shape ensures that the subtrees below the current node have already been repaired. The number of nodes whose height is at least $h$ is at most $\lfloor n/2^h\rfloor$, so charging each repair by its height gives total work at most a constant multiple of $n+{\sum }_{h\ge 1}\lfloor n/2^h\rfloor <2n$. The construction takes $\Theta (n)$ time in either heap orientation, whereas inserting entries separately has an $O(n\log n)$ worst-case bound.

Assume the subtrees rooted at the children in a rooted tree of $i$ already obey the max-heap condition. Compare $A[i]$ with each present child and choose an index of the largest of these at most three keys. If that index is $i$, stop. Otherwise exchange the two keys, continue at the chosen child, and repeat. This is sift down, with the inequality reversed from a minimum-oriented binary heap.

The exchange repairs the old root position because its new key dominates both child roots; only the subtree receiving the displaced key can still be defective. This recursion invariant proves correctness. Each exchange descends one level and costs constant work, so the worst-case running time is $O(h)$ for subtree height $h$, hence $O(\log n)$. A small key at the root of a suitably ordered heap must descend to a leaf, so the logarithmic worst-case bound is attained.

A maximum priority queue stores keyed entries and supports insertion, inspection and removal of an entry with greatest key, and key increases. A max-heap gives the following running times, with the size/capacity cost of the backing array accounted for separately:

Empty-queue inspections and removals need an explicit failure result. The index argument to increaseKey must identify the entry's current location: if callers use item handles, update their location records during swaps.

Given the target's current heap index $i$, remove it as follows. If $i=n$, discard the last entry. Otherwise replace $A[i]$ by $A[n]$ and reduce $n$ by one. If the replacement is larger than its parent in a rooted tree, use sift up; otherwise use the maximum-oriented sift down from $i$.

Only comparisons incident to the replacement can initially violate the heap order. If it exceeds its parent, it also dominates the old children because the old key dominated those children and was no larger than the parent; an upward repair suffices. Otherwise the upward comparison is valid and only a downward repair can be needed. Thus removal takes $O(\log n)$ worst-case time after the location is known. Searching an unindexed heap for an arbitrary specified key can instead require $\Theta (n)$ time; the logarithmic bound does not include such a search.