Computing parent nodes in threaded binary trees

We give three algorithms for computing the parent of a node in a threaded binary tree, and calculate the average case complexity of each. By comparing these to the unit cost of obtaining the parent of a node with an explicit parent-pointer field, it is possible to balance runtime and storage cost with respect to the task of finding parent nodes in binary trees. The results obtained show that, although the worst case complexity for ann-node tree is obviouslyO(n) for all three algorithms, the average case complexity for two input distributions is asymptotic (from below) to either 3 or 2.     

On growing random binary trees

A sequence {T_n}_{n = 1}^∞ of nested binary trees generated by an infinite sequence of i.i.d. random variables is studied. Two absolute constants β₁,β₂ are shown to exist (0.37 < β₁ < 0.50, 3.58 < β₂ < 4.32), such that $\text{lim}\text{h}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{ln}\text{n = β}{}_1\text{,}\text{lim}\text{H}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{/}\text{ln}\text{n = β}{}_2$ with probability one; here h_n and H_n are respectively the lengths of the shortest and the longest branches of the tree T_n.     

On the rotation distance between binary trees

We develop combinatorial methods for establishing lower bounds on the rotation distance between binary trees, i.e., equivalently, on the flip distance between triangulations of a polygon. These methods lead to sharp estimates for certain particular pairs of trees. As an application, we prove that, for each n, there exist size n trees at distance , i.e., the diameter of the nth associahedron has at least this value.     

On the allocation of binary trees to secondary storage

Two paging techniques proposed by Muntz and Uzgalis to store a binary tree in secondary storage are considered. The first method (sequential allocation) is the basic allocation technique and here an exact formula is given, to be considered as a touchstone for every other method. Then a modification to the second method (grouped allocation) is proposed which gains control on storage utilization. This allows the structure to maintain both a high loading factor and a low retrieving time.     

Counting labels in binary trees

We investigate properties of binary (search) trees related to the inorder labelling of the nodes. Both permutation and uniform trees are considered. We give explicit formulas to count the number of interior, middle and final nodes (leaves) containing a specific label. Possible applications are discussed.This work was supported by the Italian Ministry for Public Education.     

Pattern avoidance in binary trees

This paper considers the enumeration of trees avoiding a contiguous pattern. We provide an algorithm for computing the generating function that counts n-leaf binary trees avoiding a given binary tree pattern t. Equipped with this counting mechanism, we study the analogue of Wilf equivalence in which two tree patterns are equivalent if the respective n-leaf trees that avoid them are equinumerous. We investigate the equivalence classes combinatorially. Toward establishing bijective proofs of tree pattern equivalence, we develop a general method of restructuring trees that conjecturally succeeds to produce an explicit bijection for each pair of equivalent tree patterns.     

Fixed-bucket binary storage trees

A binary storage tree has a set or bucket of possible items associated with each node. The buckets at deeper levels are refinements of the partitionings at earlier levels. When these buckets are established a priori, rather than determined by the particular items stored, we obtain a storage data structure which is a generalized binary digital tree as well as a binary storage tree. Thus the binary key-values of the items along a path in a fixed-bucket binary storage tree have successively longer common prefixes. This synthesis of two schemes inherits all the desirable properties of both methods. The method is analyzed for uniformly-distributed input and shown to have the same cost statistics as binary digital trees.     

Restructuring ordered binary trees

We consider the problem of restructuring an ordered binary tree T, preserving the in-order sequence of its nodes, so as to reduce its height to some target value h. Such a restructuring necessarily involves the downward displacement of some of the nodes of T. Our results, focusing both on the maximum displacement over all nodes and on the maximum displacement over leaves only, provide (i) an explicit tradeoff between the worst-case displacement and the height restriction (including a family of trees that exhibit the worst-case displacements) and (ii) efficient algorithms to achieve height-restricted restructuring while minimizing the maximum node displacement.     

Optimal binary split trees

Split trees are a technique for storing records with fixed frequency distributions. It was previously believed that no polynomial time algorithms to construct optimal representations of split trees were likely (B. A. Sheil, Median split trees: A fast lookup technique for frequently occurring keys, Comm. ACM (1978), p.949). In this paper we present an O(n⁵) algorithm to construct optimal binary split trees. Other efficient algorithms to construct suboptimal split trees are also discussed. The definition of split trees is later generalized to a larger class of trees so that we can compare several important classes of trees.     

Patterns in random binary search trees

In a randomly grown binary search tree (BST) of size n, any fixed pattern occurs with a frequency that is on average proportional to n. Deviations from the average case are highly unlikely and well quantified by a Gaussian law. Trees with forbidden patterns occur with an exponentially small probability that is characterized in terms of Bessel functions. The results obtained extend to BSTs a type of property otherwise known for strings and combinatorial tree models. They apply to paged trees or to quicksort with halting on short subfiles. As a consequence, various pointer saving strategies for maintaining trees obeying the random BST model can be precisely quantified. The methods used are based on analytic models, especially bivariate generating function subjected to singularity perturbation asymptotics. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 11 : 223–244, 1997     

Slim sets of binary trees

A classical problem in phylogenetic tree analysis is to decide whether there is a phylogenetic tree T that contains all information of a given collection P of phylogenetic trees. If the answer is “yes” we say that P is compatible and T displays P. This decision problem is NP-complete even if all input trees are quartets, that is binary trees with exactly four leaves. In this paper, we prove a sufficient condition for a set of binary phylogenetic trees to be compatible. That result is used to give a short and self-contained proof of the known characterization of quartet sets of minimal cardinality which are displayed by a unique phylogenetic tree.     

Supersolvable LL-lattices of binary trees

Some posets of binary leaf-labeled trees are shown to be supersolvable lattices and explicit EL-labelings are given. Their characteristic polynomials are computed, recovering their known factorization in a different way.     

On the distribution of binary search trees under the random permutation model

We study the distribution Q on the set B_n of binary search trees over a linearly ordered set of n records under the standard random permutation model. This distribution also arises as the stationary distribution for the move-to-root (MTR) Markov chain taking values in B_n when successive requests are independent and identically distributed with each record equally likely. We identify the minimum and maximum values of the functional Q and the trees achieving those values and argue that Q is a crude measure of the “shape” of the tree. We study the distribution of Q(T) for two choices of distribution for random trees T; uniform over B_n and Q. In the latter case, we obtain a limiting normal distribution for −ln Q(T). © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

One-sided variations on binary search trees

We investigate incomplete one-sided variants of binary search trees. The (normed) size of each variant is studied, and convergence to a Gaussian law is proved in each case by asymptotically solving recurrences. These variations are also discussed within the scope of the contraction method with degenerate limit equations. In an incomplete tree the size determines most other parameters of interest, such as the height and the internal path length.     

Interpretable clustering using unsupervised binary trees

We herein introduce a new method of interpretable clustering that uses unsupervised binary trees. It is a three-stage procedure, the first stage of which entails a series of recursive binary splits to reduce the heterogeneity of the data within the new subsamples. During the second stage (pruning), consideration is given to whether adjacent nodes can be aggregated. Finally, during the third stage (joining), similar clusters are joined together, even if they do not share the same parent originally. Consistency results are obtained, and the procedure is used on simulated and real data sets.     

Loop-free algorithms for traversing binary trees

We survey and classify the various algorithms for traversing binary trees in the three principal orders and the related two- and three-visit traversal orders. For each class of algorithms we determine which of the traversal orders may be effected by means ofloop-free traversal algorithms. Although, in general, these are multi-visit traversal orders, we indicate how the algorithms may be modified to yield loop-freesingle-visit traversal algorithms in non-standard orders. We also exhibit and discuss the close relationship between the various stack-based algorithms and the other classes of algorithms.     

A note on growing binary trees

The class ? of binary search trees is studied. A leaf is a vertex of degree 0; ?_n is the subset of ? consisting of trees with n leaves. We grow trees in ?_n from ?_n ? 1 thereby inducing a probability measure on ?_n. We will show that the expected value of the average leaf distance of t ∈ ?_n is asymptotic to log₂n as n → ∞.     

Alternating permutations and binary increasing trees

In [3], Foata and Schützenberger prove that the binary increasing trees are equinumerous with half of the alternating permutations considered by André [1].In this paper we present a direct recursive proof of this fact, and then exhibit a natural bijection between the two families. In the process a second class of permutations, which forms a main concern of Foata and Schützenberger's paper, is encountered in a natural setting.