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14 Binary Trees

This document defines and describes the key concepts of binary trees. It explains that a binary tree is composed of nodes, with each node containing a value and references to a left and right child node. It defines terminology like root node, leaf nodes, ancestors and descendants. It also covers tree traversals like preorder, inorder and postorder traversal, and how to print or copy the values of all nodes using these traversal techniques.

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Raymond Ramirez
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views

14 Binary Trees

This document defines and describes the key concepts of binary trees. It explains that a binary tree is composed of nodes, with each node containing a value and references to a left and right child node. It defines terminology like root node, leaf nodes, ancestors and descendants. It also covers tree traversals like preorder, inorder and postorder traversal, and how to print or copy the values of all nodes using these traversal techniques.

Uploaded by

Raymond Ramirez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Binary Trees

Parts of a binary tree


 A binary tree is composed of zero or more nodes
 In Java, a reference to a binary tree may be null
 Each node contains:
 A value (some sort of data item)
 A reference or pointer to a left child (may be null), and
 A reference or pointer to a right child (may be null)
 A binary tree may be empty (contain no nodes)
 If not empty, a binary tree has a root node
 Every node in the binary tree is reachable from the root node by a
unique path
 A node with no left child and no right child is called a leaf
 In some binary trees, only the leaves contain a value

2
Picture of a binary tree
The root is
drawn at the top a

b c

d e f

g h i j k

l
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Left ≠ Right
 The following two binary trees are different:

A A

B B

 In the first binary tree, node A has a left child but no right
child; in the second, node A has a right child but no left child
 Put another way: Left and right are not relative terms

4
More terminology
 Node A is the parent of node B if node B is a child of A
 Node A is an ancestor of node B if A is a parent of B, or
if some child of A is an ancestor of B
 In less formal terms, A is an ancestor of B if B is a child of A,
or a child of a child of A, or a child of a child of a child of A,
etc.
 Node B is a descendant of A if A is an ancestor of B
 Nodes A and B are siblings if they have the same parent

5
Size and depth
 The size of a binary tree is the
a number of nodes in it
 This tree has size 12
b c  The depth of a node is its
distance from the root
d e f

a is at depth zero

e is at depth 2
g h i j k
 The depth of a binary tree is
l the depth of its deepest node
 This tree has depth 4

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Balance
a a
b c b
c e
d e f g
d f
h i j
g h
A balanced binary tree
i j
An unbalanced binary tree
 A binary tree is balanced if every level above the lowest is “full”
(contains 2n nodes)
 In most applications, a reasonably balanced binary tree is desirable

7
Sorted binary trees
 A binary tree is sorted if every node in the tree is larger
than (or equal to) its left descendants, and smaller than
(or equal to) its right descendants
 Equal nodes can go either on the left or the right (but it
has to be consistent)
10

8 15

4 12 20

17
8
Tree traversals
 A binary tree is defined recursively: it consists of a root, a
left subtree, and a right subtree
 To traverse (or walk) the binary tree is to visit each node in
the binary tree exactly once
 Tree traversals are naturally recursive
 Since a binary tree has three “parts,” there are six possible
ways to traverse the binary tree:
 root, right, left
 root, left, right
 right, root, left
 left, root, right
 right, left, root
 left, right, root

9
Preorder traversal
 In preorder, the root is visited first
 Here’s a preorder traversal to print out all the
elements in the binary tree:

public void preorderPrint(BinaryTree bt) {


if (bt == null) return;
System.out.println(bt.value);
preorderPrint(bt.leftChild);
preorderPrint(bt.rightChild);
}

10
Inorder traversal
 In inorder, the root is visited in the middle
 Here’s an inorder traversal to print out all the
elements in the binary tree:

public void inorderPrint(BinaryTree bt) {


if (bt == null) return;
inorderPrint(bt.leftChild);
System.out.println(bt.value);
inorderPrint(bt.rightChild);
}

11
Postorder traversal
 In postorder, the root is visited last
 Here’s a postorder traversal to print out all the
elements in the binary tree:

public void postorderPrint(BinaryTree bt) {


if (bt == null) return;
postorderPrint(bt.leftChild);
postorderPrint(bt.rightChild);
System.out.println(bt.value);
}

12
Tree traversals using “flags”
 The order in which the nodes are visited during a tree
traversal can be easily determined by imagining there is a
“flag” attached to each node, as follows:

preorder inorder postorder

 To traverse the tree, collect the flags:


A A A

B C B C B C

D E F G D E F G D E F G

ABDECFG DBEAFCG DEBFGCA


13
Copying a binary tree
 In postorder, the root is visited last
 Here’s a postorder traversal to make a complete
copy of a given binary tree:

public BinaryTree copyTree(BinaryTree bt) {


if (bt == null) return null;
BinaryTree left = copyTree(bt.leftChild);
BinaryTree right = copyTree(bt.rightChild);
return new BinaryTree(bt.value, left, right);
}

14
Other traversals
 The other traversals are the reverse of these three
standard ones
 That is, the right subtree is traversed before the left subtree
is traversed
 Reverse preorder: root, right subtree, left subtree
 Reverse inorder: right subtree, root, left subtree
 Reverse postorder: right subtree, left subtree, root

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The End

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