A splay tree is a self-adjusting binary search tree

Binary search tree

In computer science, a binary search tree , which may sometimes also be called an ordered or sorted binary tree, is a node-based binary tree data structurewhich has the following properties:...

 with the additional property that recently accessed elements are quick to access again. It performs basic operations such as insertion, look-up and removal in O

Big O notation

In mathematics, big O notation is used to describe the limiting behavior of a function when the argument tends towards a particular value or infinity, usually in terms of simpler functions. It is a member of a larger family of notations that is called Landau notation, Bachmann-Landau notation, or...

(log n) amortized

Amortized analysis

In computer science, amortized analysis is a method of analyzing algorithms that considers the entire sequence of operations of the program. It allows for the establishment of a worst-case bound for the performance of an algorithm irrespective of the inputs by looking at all of the operations...

 time. For many sequences of nonrandom operations, splay trees perform better than other search trees, even when the specific pattern of the sequence is unknown. The splay tree was invented by Daniel Dominic Sleator and Robert Endre Tarjan in 1985.

All normal operations on a binary search tree are combined with one basic operation, called splaying.