AVL Trees

An AVL tree (named after inventors Adelson-Velsky and

Landis) is a self-balancing binary search tree.
 Binary Search Tree - Best
Time
• All BST operations are O(d), where d is
tree depth
• minimum d is d=log 2N for a binary tree
with N nodes
› What is the best case tree?
› What is the worst case tree?
• So, best case running time of BST
operations is O(log N)
 Binary Search Tree - Worst
Time
• Worst case running time is O(N)
› What happens when you Insert elements in
ascending order?
• Insert: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 into an empty BST
› Problem: Lack of “balance”:
• compare depths of left and right subtree
› Unbalanced degenerate tree
Balanced and unbalanced BST
1 4
2 2 5
3
1 3
4
4 Is this “balanced”?
5
2 6 6
1 3 5 7 7
Approaches to balancing trees
• Don't balance
› May end up with some nodes very deep
• Strict balance
› The tree must always be balanced perfectly
• Pretty good balance
› Only allow a little out of balance
• Adjust on access
› Self-adjusting
 Balancing Binary Search
Trees
• Many algorithms exist for keeping
binary search trees balanced
› Adelson-Velskii and Landis (AVL) trees
(height-balanced trees)
› Splay trees and other self-adjusting trees
› B-trees and other multiway search trees
 Perfect Balance
• Want a complete tree after every operation
› tree is full except possibly in the lower right
• This is expensive
› For example, insert 2 in the tree on the left and
then rebuild as a complete tree
6 5
Insert 2 &
4 9 complete tree 2 8

1 5 8 1 4 6 9
 AVL - Good but not Perfect
Balance
• AVL trees are height-balanced binary
search trees
• Balance factor of a node
› height(left subtree) - height(right subtree)
• An AVL tree has balance factor calculated
at every node
› For every node, heights of left and right
subtree can differ by no more than 1
› Store current heights in each node
 Height of an AVL Tree
• N(h) = minimum number of nodes in an
AVL tree of height h.
• Basis
› N(0) = 1, N(1) = 2
h
• Induction
› N(h) = N(h-1) + N(h-2) + 1
• Solution (recall Fibonacci analysis)
› N(h) > h (  1.62) h-1
h-2
 Height of an AVL Tree
• N(h) > h (  1.62)
• Suppose we have n nodes in an AVL
tree of height h.
› n > N(h) (because N(h) was the minimum)
› n > h hence log n > h (relatively well
balanced tree!!)
› h < 1.44 log2n (i.e., Find takes O(logn))
 Node Heights
Tree A (AVL) Tree B (AVL)
height=2 BF=1-0=1 2
6 6
1 0 1 1
4 9 4 9
0 0 0 0 0
1 5 1 5 8

height of node = h
balance factor = hleft-hright
empty height = -1
 Node Heights after Insert 7
Tree A (AVL) Tree B (not AVL)
balance factor
2 3 1-(-1) = 2
6 6
1 1 1 2
4 9 4 9
0 0 0 0 0 1 -1
1 5 7 1 5 8
0
7
height of node = h
balance factor = hleft-hright
empty height = -1
 Insert and Rotation in AVL
Trees
• Insert operation may cause balance factor
to become 2 or –2 for some node
› only nodes on the path from insertion point to
root node have possibly changed in height
› So after the Insert, go back up to the root
node by node, updating heights
› If a new balance factor (the difference hleft-
hright) is 2 or –2, adjust tree by rotation around
the node
Single Rotation in an AVL Tree
2 2
6 6
1 2 1 1
4 9 4 8
0 0 1 0 0 0 0
1 5 8 1 5 7 9
0
7
 Insertions in AVL Trees
Let the node that needs rebalancing be .

There are 4 cases:

Outside Cases (require single rotation) :
1. Insertion into left subtree of left child of .
2. Insertion into right subtree of right child of .
Inside Cases (require double rotation) :
3. Insertion into right subtree of left child of .
4. Insertion into left subtree of right child of .
The rebalancing is performed through four
separate rotation algorithms.
 AVL Insertion: Outside Case
Consider a valid
AVL subtree
j

k h

h
h
Z
X Y
AVL Insertion: Outside Case
j Inserting into X
destroys the AVL
property at node j
k h

h+1 h Z
Y
X
AVL Insertion: Outside Case
j Do a “right rotation”

k h

h+1 h Z
Y
X
 Single right rotation
j Do a “right rotation”

k h

h+1 h Z
Y
X
Outside Case Completed
“Right rotation” done!
k (“Left rotation” is mirror
symmetric)

h+1
j
h h

X Y Z
AVL property has been restored!
 AVL Insertion: Inside Case
Consider a valid
AVL subtree
j

k h

h h Z
X Y
 AVL Insertion: Inside Case
Inserting into Y
destroys the j Does “right rotation”
restore balance?
AVL property
at node j
k h

h h+1 Z
X
Y
AVL Insertion: Inside Case
“Right rotation”
k does not restore
balance… now k is
h j out of balance

X h+1
h

Z
Y
 AVL Insertion: Inside Case
Consider the structure
of subtree Y… j
k h

h h+1 Z
X
Y
 AVL Insertion: Inside Case
Y = node i and
subtrees V and W
j
k h

h
i h+1 Z
X h or h-1

V W
AVL Insertion: Inside Case
j We will do a left-right
“double rotation” . . .

k
i Z
X
V W
Double rotation : first rotation
j left rotation complete

i
k Z
W
X V
Double rotation : second
rotation
j Now do a right rotation

i
k Z
W
X V
 Double rotation : second
rotation
right rotation complete

Balance has been

i restored

k j
h h
h or h-1

X V W Z
 Implementation

balance (1,0,-1)
key
left right

No need to keep the height; just the difference in height,

i.e. the balance factor; this has to be modified on the path of
insertion even if you don’t perform rotations
Once you have performed a rotation (single or double) you won’t
need to go back up the tree
 Single Rotation
RotateFromRight(n : reference node pointer) {
p : node pointer;
p := n.right; n
n.right := p.left;
p.left := n;
n := p
}

You also need to

X
modify the heights
or balance factors Insert
of n and p Y Z
 Double Rotation
• Implement Double Rotation in two lines.

DoubleRotateFromRight(n : reference node pointer) {

???? n
}

V W
 Insertion in AVL Trees
• Insert at the leaf (as for all BST)
› only nodes on the path from insertion point to
root node have possibly changed in height
› So after the Insert, go back up to the root
node by node, updating heights
› If a new balance factor (the difference hleft-
hright) is 2 or –2, adjust tree by rotation around
the node
 Insert in BST
Insert(T : reference tree pointer, x : element) : integer {
if T = null then
T := new tree; T.data := x; return 1;//the links to
//children are null
case
T.data = x : return 0; //Duplicate do nothing
T.data > x : return Insert(T.left, x);
T.data < x : return Insert(T.right, x);
endcase
}
 Insert in AVL trees
Insert(T : reference tree pointer, x : element) : {
if T = null then
{T := new tree; T.data := x; height := 0; return;}
case
T.data = x : return ; //Duplicate do nothing
T.data > x : Insert(T.left, x);
if ((height(T.left)- height(T.right)) = 2){
if (T.left.data > x ) then //outside case
T = RotatefromLeft (T);
else //inside case
T = DoubleRotatefromLeft (T);}
T.data < x : Insert(T.right, x);
code similar to the left case
Endcase
T.height := max(height(T.left),height(T.right)) +1;
return;
}
Example of Insertions in an
AVL Tree
2
20 Insert 5, 40
0 1
10 30
0 0
25 35
Example of Insertions in an
AVL Tree
2
3
20 20
1 1 1 2
10 30 10 30
0 0 0 1
0 0
5 25 35 5 25 35
0
40
Now Insert 45
Single rotation (outside case)
3
3
20 20
1 2 1 2
10 30 10 30
0 0 2
0 0
5 25 35 5 25 40 1
0 0
35 45
Imbalance 1 40

0 45
Now Insert 34
Double rotation (inside case)
3
3
20 20
1 3 1 2
10 30 10 35
0 0 2
0 1
5 Imbalance 25 40 5 30 40 1
0
1 35 45 0 0 25 34 45
Insertion of 34 0
34
 AVL Tree Deletion
• Similar but more complex than insertion
› Rotations and double rotations needed to
rebalance
› Imbalance may propagate upward so that
many rotations may be needed.
 Pros and Cons of AVL Trees
Arguments for AVL trees:
1. Search is O(log N) since AVL trees are always balanced.
2. Insertion and deletions are also O(logn)
3. The height balancing adds no more than a constant factor to the
speed of insertion.

Arguments against using AVL trees:

1. Difficult to program & debug; more space for balance factor.
2. Asymptotically faster but rebalancing costs time.
3. Most large searches are done in database systems on disk and use
other structures (e.g. B-trees).
 Double Rotation Solution

DoubleRotateFromRight(n : reference node pointer) {

RotateFromLeft(n.right);
n
RotateFromRight(n);
}

V W