5/5/2017 BinaryTreeOverview

BinaryTreeOverview

FormalDefinitionofaBinaryTree

Abinarytreeconsistsofafinitesetofnodesthatiseitherempty,orconsistsofonespeciallydesignated
nodecalledtherootofthebinarytree,andtheelementsoftwodisjointbinarytreescalledtheleftsubtreeand
rightsubtreeoftheroot.

Notethatthedefinitionaboveisrecursive:wehavedefinedabinarytreeintermsofbinarytrees.Thisis
appropriatesincerecursionisaninnatecharacteristicoftreestructures.

Diagram1:Abinarytree

BinaryTreeTerminology
Treeterminologyisgenerallyderivedfromtheterminologyoffamilytrees(specifically,thetypeoffamily
treecalledalinealchart).

Eachrootissaidtobetheparentoftherootsofitssubtrees.
Twonodeswiththesameparentaresaidtobesiblingstheyarethechildrenoftheirparent.
Therootnodehasnoparent.
Agreatdealoftreeprocessingtakesadvantageoftherelationshipbetweenaparentanditschildren,
andwecommonlysayadirectededge(orsimplyanedge)extendsfromaparenttoitschildren.Thus
edgesconnectarootwiththerootsofeachsubtree.Anundirectededgeextendsinbothdirections
betweenaparentandachild.
Grandparentandgrandchildrelationscanbedefinedinasimilarmannerwecouldalsoextendthis
terminologyfurtherifwewished(designatingnodesascousins,asanuncleoraunt,etc.).

OtherTreeTerms

Thenumberofsubtreesofanodeiscalledthedegreeofthenode.Inabinarytree,allnodeshave
degree0,1,or2.
Anodeofdegreezeroiscalledaterminalnodeorleafnode.
Anonleafnodeisoftencalledabranchnode.
Thedegreeofatreeisthemaximumdegreeofanodeinthetree.Abinarytreeisdegree2.
Adirectedpathfromnoden1 tonkisdefinedasasequenceofnodesn1 ,n2 ,...,nksuchthatniisthe
parentofni+1 for1<=i<k.Anundirectedpathisasimilarsequenceofundirectededges.Thelength
ofthispathisthenumberofedgesonthepath,namelyk1(i.e.,thenumberofnodes1).Thereisa
pathoflengthzerofromeverynodetoitself.Noticethatinabinarytreethereisexactlyonepathfrom
theroottoeachnode.

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Thelevelordepthofanodewithrespecttoatreeisdefinedrecursively:theleveloftherootiszero
andthelevelofanyothernodeisonehigherthanthatofitsparent.Ortoputitanotherway,thelevel
ordepthofanodeniisthelengthoftheuniquepathfromtheroottoni.
Theheightofniisthelengthofthelongestpathfromnitoaleaf.Thusallleavesinthetreeareat
height0.
Theheightofatreeisequaltotheheightoftheroot.Thedepthofatreeisequaltothelevelordepth
ofthedeepestleafthisisalwaysequaltotheheightofthetree.
Ifthereisadirectedpathfromn1 ton2 ,thenn1 isanancestorofn2 andn2 isadescendantofn1 .

SpecialFormsofBinaryTrees
Thereareafewspecialformsofbinarytreeworthmentioning.

Ifeverynonleafnodeinabinarytreehasnonemptyleftandrightsubtrees,thetreeistermedastrictly
binarytree.Or,toputitanotherway,allofthenodesinastrictlybinarytreeareofdegreezeroortwo,never
degreeone.AstrictlybinarytreewithNleavesalwayscontains2N1nodes.

Sometextscallthisa"full"binarytree.

Acompletebinarytreeofdepthdisthestrictlybinarytreeallofwhoseleavesareatleveld.

Thetotalnumberofnodesinacompletebinarytreeofdepthdequals2d+1 1.Sinceallleavesinsuchatree
areatleveld,thetreecontains2d leavesand,therefore,2d 1internalnodes.

Diagram2:Acompletebinarytree

Abinarytreeofdepthdisanalmostcompletebinarytreeif:

Eachleafinthetreeiseitheratleveldoratleveld1.
Foranynodend inthetreewitharightdescendantatleveld,alltheleftdescendantsofnd thatare
leavesarealsoatleveld.

Diagram3:Analmostcompletebinarytree

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AnalmostcompletestrictlybinarytreewithNleaveshas2N1nodes(asdoesanyotherstrictlybinary
tree).AnalmostcompletebinarytreewithNleavesthatisnotstrictlybinaryhas2Nnodes.Therearetwo
distinctalmostcompletebinarytreeswithNleaves,oneofwhichisstrictlybinaryandoneofwhichisnot.

ThereisonlyasinglealmostcompletebinarytreewithNnodes.ThistreeisstrictlybinaryifandonlyifNis
odd.

RepresentingBinaryTreesinMemory
ArrayRepresentation

Foracompleteoralmostcompletebinarytree,storingthebinarytreeasanarraymaybeagoodchoice.

Onewaytodothisistostoretherootofthetreeinthefirstelementofthearray.Then,foreachnodeinthe
treethatisstoredatsubscriptk,thenode'sleftchildcanbestoredatsubscript2k+1andtherightchildcanbe
storedatsubscript2k+2.Forexample,thealmostcompletebinarytreeshowninDiagram2canbestoredin
anarraylikeso:

However,ifthisschemeisusedtostoreabinarytreethatisnotcompleteoralmostcomplete,wecanendup
withagreatdealofwastedspaceinthearray.

Forexample,thefollowingbinarytree

wouldbestoredusingthistechinquelikeso:

LinkedRepresentation

Ifabinarytreeisnotcompleteoralmostcomplete,abetterchoiceforstoringitistousealinked
representationsimilartothelinkedliststructurescoveredearlierinthesemester:

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Eachtreenodehastwopointers(usuallynamedleftandright).Thetreeclasshasapointertotherootnode
ofthetree(labeledrootinthediagramabove).

AnypointerinthetreestructurethatdoesnotpointtoanodewillnormallycontainthevalueNULL.Alinked
treewithNnodeswillalwayscontainN+1nulllinks.

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