A 3-ary max heap is a tree in which each node has at most 3 children and every…

A 3-ary max heap is a tree in which each node has at most 3 children and every parent node is greater than or equal to its children. The heap is represented using a 0-based array such that for a node at index i, its children are at indices 3i+1, 3i+2, and 3i+3.
Consider the array:
9, 5, 6, 8, 3, 1

a) Verify whether the given array represents a valid 3-ary max heap.

b) Write the general formula for finding the parent and children indices in a 3-ary heap.

c) Conceptual Question: Why is the heap property important in a max heap and how does it help in efficient operations?