THREADED BINARY TREE

Consider the linked representation of a binary tree T, approximately half of the entries in
left pointer field and right pointer field contains NULL elements. This space occupied by
NULL entries can be efficiently utilized to store some kind of valuable information. These
special pointers are called threads, and the binary tree having such pointers is called a
threaded binary tree.
Threads in a binary tree are represented by a dotted line. There are many ways to thread a
binary tree these are

1. The right NULL pointer of each leaf node can be replaced by a thread to the
successor of that node under in order traversal called a right thread, and the tree will
called a right threaded tree or right threaded binary tree.
2. The left NULL pointer of each node can be replaced by a thread to the predecessor
of that node under in order traversal called left thread, and the tree will called a left
threaded tree.
3. Both left and right NULL pointers can be used to point to predecessor and
successor of that node respectively, under in order traversal. Such a tree is called a
fully threaded tree.

A threaded binary tree where only one thread is used is also known as one way threaded
tree and where both threads are used is also known as two way threaded tree.
Memory Representatin Of Treaded Binayr Tree

In above representation char thread field is as a tag. It will hold 0 for normal right pointer
and 1 for thread.
1

Trees
Examples of Tree structure
Definition of trees
Binary tree
Height of tree
Tree traversals
Finding max
Finding sum
2

Trees
You have seen that using linked lists you can
represent an ordered collection of values without
using arrays. Although linked lists require more
memory space than arrays ( as they have to store
address at each node), they have definite advantages
over arrays. Insertion and deletion of items can be
carried out with out involving considerable
movement of data.
The ordering relationship amongst a set of values is
obtained through use of pointers. However, we need
not restrict ourselves to only linear structures. In this
chapter we shall extend the use of pointers to define a
non-linear structure to model hierarchical
relationships, such as a family tree.
In such a tree, we have links moving from an
ancestor to a parent, and links moving from the
parent to children. We have many other examples of
tree-structured hierarchies.
Directory Hierarchies: In computers, files are stored
in directories that form a tree. The top level directory
represents the root. It has many subdirectories and
3
files. The subdirectories would have further set of
subdirectories.
Organization charts: In a company a number of vice
presidents report to a president. Each VP would have
a set of general managers, each GM having his/her
own set of specific managers and so on.
Biological classifications: Starting from living being
at the root, such a tree can branch off to mammals,
birds, marine life etc.
Game Trees: All games which require only mental
effort would always have number of possible options
at any position of the game. For each position, there
would be number of counter moves. The repetitive
pattern results in what is known a game tree.
Tree as a data structure
A tree is a data structure that is made of nodes and
pointers, much like a linked list. The difference
between them lies in how they are organized:
The top node in the tree is called the root and all
other nodes branch off from this one.
4
Every node in the tree can have some number of
children. Each child node can in turn be the parent
node to its children and so on.
Child nodes can have links only from a single
parent.
Any node higher up than the parent is called an
ancestor node.
Nodes having no children are called leaves.
Any node which is neither a root, nor a leaf is
called an interior node.
The height of a tree is defined to be the length of
the longest path from the root to a leaf in that tree
( including the path to root)
A common example of a tree structure is the binary
tree.
Binary Trees
5
Definition: A binary tree is a tree in which each
node can have maximum two children. Thus each
node can have no child, one child or two children.
The pointers help us to identify whether it is a left
child or a right child.
Application of a Binary tree
Before we define any formal algorithms, let us look
at one possible application of a binary tree.
Consider a set of numbers: 25,63,13, 72,18,32,59,67.
Suppose we store these numbers in individual nodes
of a singly linked list. To search for a particular item
we have to go through the list, and maybe we have to
go to the end of the list as well. Thus if there were n
numbers, our search complexity would be O(n).
Is it because the numbers are not in any particular
sequence? Now suppose we order these numbers:
13,18,25,32,59,63,67,72. and store these in another
linked list.
What would be the search complexity now? You may
be surprised to discover that it is still O(n). You
simply cannot apply binary search on a linked list
with O(log n) complexity. You still have to go
6
through each link to locate a particular number. So a
linear linked structure is not helping us at all.
Let us see if we can improve the situation by storing
the data using a binary tree structure. Consider the
following binary tree where the numbers have been
stored in a specific order. The value at any node is
more than the values stored in the left-child nodes,
and less than the values stored in the right-child
nodes.
59
18 67
13 32 63 72
25
7
With this arrangement any search is taking at most 4
steps.
For larger set of numbers, if we can come up with a
good tree arrangement than the search time can be
reduced dramatically.
Examples of binary trees:
root root
8
The following are NOT binary trees:
9
Definitions:
tree, then n1 is the parent of n2 and n2 is the left or
right child of n1.
The level of a node in a binary tree:
- The root of the tree has level 0
- The level of any other node in the tree is one more
than the level of its parent.
root Level 0
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
10
Full Binary Tree
How many nodes?
Level 0 : 1 node ( height 1)
Level 1: 2 nodes ( height 2)
Level 3 : 4 nodes (height 3)
Level 3: 8 nodes (height 4)
Total number of nodes
n = 2h 1 ( maximum)
h = log ( n+1)
45
24 76
14 32 61 87
8 20 27 37
56 67
81 94
11
Implementation
A binary tree has a natural implementation in linked
storage. A tree is referenced with a pointer to its root.
Recursive definition of a binary tree:
A binary tree is either
- Empty, or
- A node (called root) together with two binary trees
(called left subtree and the right subtree of the root)
Each node of a binary tree has both left and right
subtrees which can be reached with pointers:
struct tree_node{
int data;
struct tree_node *left_child;
struct tree_node *right_child;
};
left_child data right_child
12
Note the recursive definition of trees. A tree is a node with
structure that contains more trees. We have actually a tree
located at each node of a tree.
Traversal of Binary Trees
Linked lists are traversed sequentially from first node to the
last node. However, there is no such natural linear order for
the nodes of a tree. Different orderings are possible for
traversing a binary tree. Every node in the tree is a root for
the subtree that it points to. There are three common
traversals for binary trees:
Preorder
Inorder
Postorder
These names are chosen according to the sequence in
which the root node and its children are visited.
Suppose there are only 3 nodes in the tree having the
following arrangement:
13
With inorder traversal the order is left-child, root node,
right-child
With preorder traversal the order is root node, left
child , right child.
With postorder traversal the order is left child, right
child, root node.
n1
n2 n3
In order : n2 n1 n3
Pre-order : n1 n2 n3
Post order : n2 n3 n1
14
A tree will typically have more than 3 nodes. Instead of
nodes n2 and n3 there would be subtrees as shown below:
With inorder traversal the order is left subtree, then the
root and finally the right subtree. Thus the root is visited
in-between visiting the left and right subtrees.
With preorder traversal the root node is visited first,
then the nodes in the left subtree are visited followed by
the nodes in the right subtrees
root
Left
subtree
Right
subtree
15
With postorder traversal the root is visited after both the
subtrees have been visited.(left subtree followed by right
subtree.
As the structure of a binary tree is recursive, the traversal
algorithms are inherently recursive.
Algorithm for Preorder traversal
In a preorder traversal, we first visit the root node.
If there is a left child we visit the left subtree (all the
nodes) in pre-order fashion starting with that left child .
If there is a right child then we visit the right subtree in
pre-order fashion starting with that right child.
The function may seem very simplistic, but the real power
lies in the recursive formulation. In fact there is a double
recursion. The real job is done by the system on the runtime
stack. This simplifies coding while it puts a heavy
burden on the system.
void preorder(struct tree_node * p)
{ if (p !=NULL) {
printf(%d\n, p->data);
16
preorder(p->left_child);
preorder(p->right_child);
}
}
Take a tree of say height 3 with maybe 6 nodes and try to
run the above recursion to find out the actual order of
printing the nodes.
Example:
Preorder Traversal : a b c d f g e
a(root)
b(left)
c d f g e (right)
Algorithm for Inorder traversal
root a
bc
de
fg
17
In the inorder traversal, we first visit its left subtree (all the
nodes) , then we visit the root node and then its right
subtree.
void inorder(struct tree_node *p)
{ if (p !=NULL) {
inorder(p->left_child);
printf(%d\n, p->data);
inorder(p->right_child);
}
}
Inorder: b a f d g c e
b(left)
a(root)
f d g c e(right)
Algorithm for Postorder traversal
root a
bc
de
fg
18
In a postorder traversal, we first visit its left subtree (all the
nodes) and then visit its right subtree ( all the nodes) and
then finally we visit the root node.
void postorder(struct tree_node *p)
{ if (p !=NULL) {
postorder(p->left_child);
postorder(p->right_child);
printf(%d\n, p->data);
}
}
Example:
Postorder: b f g d e c a
b(left)
root a
bc
de
fg
19
f g d e c(right)
a(root)
20
Finding Maximum value in a given tree p
int findMax (struct tree_node *p)
{
int node_data, leftmax, rightmax, max;
max = -1
//assume all values in the tree are positive
integers
if (p != NULL)
{ node_data = p -> data;
leftmax = findMax(p -> left_child);
rightmax = findMax(p->right_child);
//find the largest of the tree values.
if (leftmax > rightmax)
max = leftmax;
else
max = rightmax;
if (node_data > max)
max = node_data;
}
return max;
21
node_value = 45
leftmax = 24 (max of 24, -1, -1 )
rightmax = 76 (max of 76, -1, -1 )
max = max of 45, 24, 76
= 76
24
45
76
22
max of left subtree
leftmax = max ( 24,12,32)
= 24
rightmax = 76
max of tree = max (45, leftmax, rightmax)
= 76
24 76
14 32
45
23
Finding sum of values of all the nodes of a tree
To find the sum, add to the value of the current node, the
sum of values of all nodes of left subtree and the sum of
values of all nodes in right subtree.
int sum(struct tree_node *p)
{
if ( p!= NULL)
return(p->data + sum(p->left_child)
+ sum(p->right_child));
else
return 0;
}
24
AVL Trees
The Concept
These are self-adjusting, height-balanced binary search trees and are named after the
inventors: Adelson-Velskii and Landis. A balanced binary search tree has Theta(lg n)
height and hence Theta(lg n) worst case lookup and insertion times. However, ordinary
binary search trees have a bad worst case. When sorted data is inserted, the binary search
tree is very unbalanced, essentially more of a linear list, with Theta(n) height and thus
Theta(n) worst case insertion and lookup times. AVL trees overcome this problem.

Definitions
The height of a binary tree is the maximum path length from the root to a leaf. A single-
node binary tree has height 0, and an empty binary tree has height -1. As another example,
the following binary tree has height 3.

/ \

3 12

/ / \

2 10 20

/ \

9 11

An AVL tree is a binary search tree in which every node is height balanced, that is, the
difference in the heights of its two subtrees is at most 1. The balance factor of a node is
the height of its right subtree minus the height of its left subtree. An equivalent definition,
then, for an AVL tree is that it is a binary search tree in which each node has a balance
factor of -1, 0, or +1. Note that a balance factor of -1 means that the subtree is left-heavy,
and a balance factor of +1 means that the subtree is right-heavy. For example, in the
following AVL tree, note that the root node with balance factor +1 has a right subtree of
height 1 more than the height of the left subtree. (The balance factors are shown at the top
of each node.)

+1
30

/ \
 -1 0
22 62

/ / \

0 +1 -1
5 44 95

\ /
0 0
51 77

The idea is that an AVL tree is close to being completely balanced. Hence it should have
Theta(lg n) height (it does - always) and so have Theta(lg n) worst case insertion and
lookup times. An AVL tree does not have a bad worst case, like a binary search tree which
can become very unbalanced and give Theta(n) worst case lookup and insertion times. The
following binary search tree is not an AVL tree. Notice the balance factor of -2 at node 70.

-1
100

/ \

-2 -1
70 150

/ \ / \

+1 0 +1 0
30 80 130 180

/ \ \
0 -1 0
10 40 140
/
0
36

Inserting a New Item

Initially, a new item is inserted just as in a binary search tree. Note that the item always
goes into a new leaf. The tree is then readjusted as needed in order to maintain it as an
AVL tree. There are three main cases to consider when inserting a new node.

Case 1:

A node with balance factor 0 changes to +1 or -1 when a new node is inserted below it. No
change is needed at this node. Consider the following example. Note that after an insertion
one only needs to check the balances along the path from the new leaf to the root.

0
 40

/ \

+1 0
20 50

\ / \

0 0 0
30 45 70

After inserting 60 we get:

+1
40

/ \

+1 +1
20 50

\ / \

0 0 -1
30 45 70
/
0
60

Case 2:

A node with balance factor -1 changes to 0 when a new node is inserted in its right subtree.
(Similarly for +1 changing to 0 when inserting in the left subtree.) No change is needed at
this node. Consider the following example.

-1
40

/ \

+1 0
20 50

/ \ / \

0 0 0 0
10 30 45 70
/ \
0 0
22 32

After inserting 60 we get:

 0 <-- the -1 changed to a 0 (case
2)
40

/ \

+1 +1 <-- an example of case 1

20 50

/ \ / \

0 0 0 -1 <-- an example of
case 1
10 30 45 70
/ \ /
0 0 0
22 32 60

Case 3:

A node with balance factor -1 changes to -2 when a new node is inserted in its left subtree.
(Similarly for +1 changing to +2 when inserting in the right subtree.) Change is needed at
this node. The tree is restored to an AVL tree by using a rotation.

Subcase A:

This consists of the following situation, where P denotes the parent of the subtree being
examined, LC is P's left child, and X is the new node added. Note that inserting X makes P
have a balance factor of -2 and LC have a balance factor of -1. The -2 must be fixed. This
is accomplished by doing a right rotation at P. Note that rotations do not mess up the order
of the nodes given in an inorder traversal. This is very important since it means that we still
have a legitimate binary search tree. (Note, too, that the mirror image situation is also
included under subcase A.)

(rest of tree)
|
-2
P

/ \

-1 sub
LC tree
of
/ \ height
n
sub sub
tree tree
of of
height height
n n
/
X
The fix is to use a single right rotation at node P. (In the mirror image case a single left
rotation is used at P.) This gives the following picture.

(rest of tree)
|
0
LC

/ \

sub P
tree
of / \
height
n sub sub
/ tree tree
X of of
height height
n n

Consider the following more detailed example that illustrates subcase A.

-1
80

/ \

-1 -1
30 100

/ \ /

0 0 0
15 40 90
/ \
0 0
10 20

We then insert 5 and then check the balance factors from the new leaf up toward the root.
(Always check from the bottom up.)

-2
80

/ \

-2 -1
30 100

/ \ /

-1 0 0
 15 40 90
/ \
-1 0
10 20
/
0
5

This reveals a balance factor of -2 at node 30 that must be fixed. (Since we work bottom
up, we reach the -2 at 30 first. The other -2 problem will go away once we fix the problem
at 30.) The fix is accomplished with a right rotation at node 30, leading to the following
picture.

-1
80

/ \

0 -1
15 100

/ \ /

-1 0 0
10 30 90
/ / \
0 0 0
5 20 40

Recall that the mirror image situation is also included under subcase A. The following is a
general illustration of this situation. The fix is to use a single left rotation at P. See if you
can draw a picture of the following after the left rotation at P. Then draw a picture of a
particular example that fits our general picture below and fix it with a left rotation.

(rest of tree)
|
+2
P

/ \

sub +1
tree RC
of
height / \
n
sub sub
tree tree
of of
height height
n n
\
X
Subcase B:

This consists of the following situation, where P denotes the parent of the subtree being
examined, LC is P's left child, NP is the node that will be the new parent, and X is the new
node added. X might be added to either of the subtrees of height n-1. Note that inserting X
makes P have a balance factor of -2 and LC have a balance factor of +1. The -2 must be
fixed. This is accomplished by doing a double rotation at P (explained below). (Note that
the mirror image situation is also included under subcase B.)

(rest of tree)
|
-2
P

/ \

+1 sub
LC tree
of
/ \ height
n
sub -1
tree NP
of / \
height sub sub
n tree tree
n-1 n-1
/
X

The fix is to use a double right rotation at node P. A double right rotation at P consists of a
single left rotation at LC followed by a single right rotation at P. (In the mirror image case
a double left rotation is used at P. This consists of a single right rotation at the right child
RC followed by a single left rotation at P.) In the above picture, the double rotation gives
the following (where we first show the result of the left rotation at LC, then a new picture
for the result of the right rotation at P).

(rest of tree)
|
-2
P

/ \

-2 sub
NP tree
of
/ \ height
n
0 sub
LC tree
/ \ n-1
sub sub
 tree tree
of n-1
height /
n X

Finally we have the following picture after doing the right rotation at P.

(rest of tree)
|
0
NP

/ \

0 +1
LC P

/ \ / \

sub sub sub sub

tree tree tree tree
of n-1 n-1 of
height / height
n X n

Consider the following concrete example of subcase B.

-1
80

/ \

0 0
30 100

/ \ / \

-1 0 0 0
20 50 90 120
/ / \
0 0 0
10 40 60

After inserting 55, we get a problem, a balance factor of -2 at the root node, as seen below.

-2
80

/ \

+1 0
30 100

/ \ / \
 -1 +1 0 0
20 50 90 120
/ / \
0 0 -1
10 40 60
/
0
55

As discussed above, this calls for a double rotation. First we do a single left rotation at 30.
This gives the following picture.

-2
80

/ \

-1 0
50 100

/ \ / \

-1 -1 0 0
30 60 90 120
/ \ /
-1 0 0
20 40 55
/
0
10

Finally, the right rotation at 80 restores the binary search tree to be an AVL tree. The
resulting picture is shown below.

0
50

/ \

-1 0
30 80

/ \ / \

-1 0 -1 0
20 40 60 100
/ / / \
0 0 0 0
10 55 90 120

Example Program
itemtype.h
 bstnode.h
bstnode.cpp
bstree.h
bstree.cpp
avlnode.h
avlnode.cpp
avltree.h
avltree.cpp
avltest.cpp

This example program inserts some characters into an AVL tree, uses a print routine to see
that the AVL tree is correct, and tries out other features such as the copy constructor, the
Find function, etc.

The class AVLClass is derived by public inheritance from the class BSTClass. Since we
have already implemented binary search trees and AVL trees are a form of specialized
binary search tree, this allows considerable code reuse. The public functions provided are a
constructor, a copy constructor, a destructor, an overloaded assignment operator, and a
function to insert a new item. The following public functions are inherited from BSTClass
and hence are also available: NumItems, Empty, Find, and Print. AVLClass also has
numerous private functions to carry out the various rotations and the like.

Note that the Print function prints the binary search tree sideways, as it is much easier to
do so. Note, too, that AVLClass is named as a friend of BSTClass so that it can have direct
access to the private data fields of the latter class. This makes the coding simpler. There are
no new data fields added in the derived class.

AVLNodeClass is derived by public inheritance from BSTNodeClass. In the BSTNodeClass

note that the data fields are protected fields, instead of the usual private fields. (Public
fields are also possible but rarely used since they violate the principle of information
hiding.) A protected field is directly accessible in a publicly derived class, but is not
accessible elsewhere, such as from our application program in the main function. This
means that we do not need to make AVLNodeClass a friend of BSTNodeClass in order for
the derived class to have direct access to the data fields. The AVLNodeClass only needs to
add one data field to the inherited ones: a field to hold the balance number for this node.

One messy feature of the above example is that in many places a cast is required so that a
pointer to a BSTNodeClass node is seen as a pointer to an AVLNodeClass node. For
example, the CopySubtree function in AVLClass contains:

NewLeftPtr = CopySubtree(reinterpret_cast <AVLNodePtr> (Current->Left))

This is needed because the data field Left is a pointer to the wrong type of node, a
BSTNodeClass node. Since CopySubtree expects a pointer to an AVLNodeClass node, we
need the cast. One type of node is derived by inheritance from the other and is almost the
same, but to the compiler they are different types. So a pointer to one type of node is not of
the same type as a pointer to the other type of node. Hence we need the cast. Similar casts
occur in the application code found in the main function, such as:

Result = reinterpret_cast <AVLNodePtr> (AVLTreeA.Find('E'))

This one is needed since we are using the inherited Find function on an AVL tree, which
belongs to the derived class. Our Find function returns a pointer to the wrong type of node,
so we fix it up with the cast. Code reuse helps a lot, but here it does add the nuisance of a
cast.