The complexity table for arrays and linked lists is the most memorised, least understood reference in interview prep. Arrays give O(1) access. Linked lists give O(1) insertion. That's the answer on every flashcard. The table doesn't lie. It's incomplete. The missing piece, once you have it, makes every entry in that table feel obvious. TL;DR: Arrays and linked lists differ for one reason: contiguous memory vs scattered memory. Every entry in the complexity table follows from that single fact. Two O(n) operations aren't equal in practice. A million element array scan can often run an order of magnitude faster than the equivalent linked list traversal because of cache locality. Linked lists win when your algorithm already holds a pointer to the mutation point. They lose when you have to traverse to find it first.…