I'm trying to find the best algorithm for
converting an "ordinary" linked list
into an `ideal skip list`
.
Where the definition of an ideal skip list is that in the first level we'll have all
the elements , in the level above - half of them , the one after - quarter of them ... and so on .
I'm thinking about O(n) run-time where involving throwing a coin for each node in
the original linked-list , whether or not for a specific node , should I go up or not , and create another duplicate node for the current node upstairs ...
Eventually this algorithm would produce O(n) , is there any better algorithm ?
Regards
I am assuming the linked list is sorted - otherwise it cannot be done in comparison based algorithm, since you need to sort it in Omega(nlogn)
Iterate on the "highest level" of the list, and add a "link up node" every second node.
Repeat until the highest level has only one node.
The idea is to generate a new list, half the size of the original, which is linked to the original in every 2nd link, and then recursively invoke on the smaller list, until you reach a list of size 1.
You will end up with lists of size 1,2,4,...,n/2 linked to each other.
pseudo code:
makeSkipList(list):
if (list == null || list.next == null): //stop clause - a list of size 1
return
//root is the next level list, which will have n/2 elements.
root <- new link node
root.linkedNode <- list //linked node is linking "down" in the skip list.
root.next <- null //next is linking "right" in the skip list.
lastLinkNode <- root
i <- 1
//we create a link every second element
for each node in list, exlude the first element:
if (i++ %2 == 0): //for every 2nd element, create a link node.
lastLinkNode.next <- new link node
lastLinkNode <- lastLinkNode.next //setting the "down" field to the element in the list
lastLinkNode.linkedNode <- node
lastLinkNode.next <- null
makeSkipList(root) //recursively invoke on the new list, which is of size n/2.
Complexity is O(n) since the algorithm complexity can be described as T(n) = n + T(n/2), thus you get T(n) = n + n/2 + n/4 + ... -> 2n
It is easy to see it cannot be done better then O(n), because at the very least you will have to add at least one node in the second half of the original list, and getting there is itself O(n)
Related
I have n unsorted values as input, and an empty linked list.
Those n values are added to the list in such a way that at the end the list is sorted.
What is the time complexity of the most efficient algorithm for this, in the worst case?
Usually a linked list is only accessed via its head; there is no random access to any node. This excludes any use of binary search.
So whenever a new value needs to be added to a linked list, the starting point is always the head of the list. The only way to proceed is to follow the next pointer to the next node in the list until a good insertion point is found, where the new node can be inserted.
In pseudo code:
insert_value_in_list(head, value):
# create a node for the value
node = new Node(value)
# find out where it should be injected in the list
prev = NIL
node = head
while node is not NIL and node.value < value:
prev = node
node = node.next
# if there is a node that should precede...
if prev is not NIL:
node.next = prev.next
prev.next = node
else: # if there is no node that should precede, then make it the new head
node.next = head
head = node
return head
The loop in this algorithm can take n iterations, where n is the current length of the list. This worst case happens when the inserted value is greater than all values that are already in the list.
So when inserting n values like that, the number of iterations of that loop can be in the worst case:
0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + ... + n-1
This is equal to (n-1)n/2, which is O(n²). The worst case happens when the inserted values are inserted in their sorted order.
All other parts of the insertion-algorithm run in constant time, so the time complexity in the worst case is (On²).
Note that the best case happens when the input is the reverse of the sorted order. In that case all values can be prepended to the list, and such a prepend-operation runs in constant time. Then the overall time complexity is O(n) -- best case.
One of my friends had the following interview question, and neither of us are quite sure what the correct answer is. Does anyone have an idea about how to approach this?
Given an unbalanced binary tree, describe an algorithm to select a node at random such that each node has an equal probability of being selected.
You can do it with a single pass of the tree. The algorithm is the same as with a list.
When you see the first item in the tree, you set it as the selected item.
When you see the second item, you pick a random number in the range (0,2]. If it's 1, then the new item becomes the selected item. Otherwise you skip that item.
For each node you see, you increase the count, and with probability 1/count, you select it. So at the 101st node, you pick a random number in the range (0,101]. If it's 100, that node is the new selected node.
When you're done traversing the tree, return the selected node. The operation is O(n) in time, with n being the number of nodes in the tree, and O(1) in space. No preprocessing required.
We can do this recursively in one parse by selecting the random node while parsing the tree and counting the number of nodes in left and right sub tree. At every step in recursion, we return the number of nodes at the root and a random node selected uniformly randomly from nodes in sub tree rooted at root.
Let's say number of nodes in left sub tree is n_l and number of nodes in right sub tree is n_r. Also, randomly selected node from left and right subtree be R_l and R_r respectively. Then, select a uniform random number in [0,1] and select R_l with probability n_l/(n_l+n_r+1) or select root with probability 1/(n_l+n_r+1) or select R_r with probability n_r/(n_l+n_r+1).
Note
If you're only doing a single query, and you don't already have a count at each node, the best time complexity you can get is O(n), so the depth-first-search approach would be the best one.
For repeated queries, the best option depends on the given constraints
(the fastest per-query approach is using a supplementary array).
Supplementary array
O(n) space, O(n) preprocessing, O(1) insert / remove, O(1) query
Have a supplementary array containing all the nodes.
Also have each node store its own index (so you can remove it from the array in O(1) - the way to do this would be to swap it with the last element in the array, update the index of the node that was at the last index appropriately and decrease the size of the array (removing the last element).
To get a random node, simply generate a random index in the array.
Per-node count
Modified tree (O(n) space), N/A (or O(n)) preprocessing, O(depth) insert / remove, O(depth) query
Let each node contain the number of elements in its subtree.
When generating a random node, go left or right based on the value of a random number generated and the counts of the left or right subtrees.
// note that subtreeCount = leftCount + rightCount + 1
val = getRandomNumber(subtreeCount)
if val = 0
return this node
else if val <= leftCount
go left
else
go right
Depth-first-search
O(depth) space, O(1) preprocessing, O(1) insert / remove, O(n) query
Count the number of nodes in the tree (if you don't already have the count).
Generate a random number between 0 and the number of nodes.
Simply do a depth-first-search through the tree and stop when you've processed the desired number of nodes.
This presumes a node doesn't have a parent member - having this will make this O(1) space.
I implemented #jim-mischel's algorithm in C# and it works great:
private void SelectRandomNode(ref int count, Node curNode, ref Node selectedNode)
{
foreach( var childNode in curNode.Children )
{
++count;
if( random.Next(count) == count - 1 )
selectedNode = childNode;
SelectRandomNode(ref count, childNode, ref selectedNode);
}
}
Call it like this:
var count = 1;
Node selected = root;
SelectRandomNode(ref count, root, ref selected);
The question is to find whether a given sum exists over any path in a BST. The question is damn easy if a path means root to leaf, or easy if the path means a portion of a path from root to leaf that may not include the root or the leaf. But it becomes difficult here, because a path may span both left and right child of a node. For example, in the given figure, a sum of 132 exists over the circled path. How can I find the existence of such a path? Using hash to store all possible sums under a node is frowned upon!
You can certainly generate all possible paths, summing incrementally as you go. The fact that the tree is a BST might let you save time by bounding out certain sums, though I'm not sure that will give an asymptotic speed increase. The problem is that a sum formed using the left child of a given node will not necessarily be less than a sum formed using the right child, since the path for the former sum could contain many more nodes. The following algorithm will work for all trees, not just BSTs.
To generate all possible paths, notice that the topmost point of a path is special: it's the only point in a path which is allowed (though not required) to have both children contained in the path. Every path contains a unique topmost point. Therefore the outer layer of recursion should be to visit every tree node, and to generate all paths that have that node as the topmost point.
// Report whether any path whose topmost node is t sums to target.
// Recurses to examine every node under t.
EnumerateTopmost(Tree t, int target) {
// Get a list of sums for paths containing the left child.
// Include a 0 at the start to account for a "zero-length path" that
// does not contain any children. This will be in increasing order.
a = append(0, EnumerateSums(t.left))
// Do the same for paths containing the right child. This needs to
// be sorted in decreasing order.
b = reverse(append(0, EnumerateSums(t.right)))
// "List match" to detect any pair of sums that works.
// This is a linear-time algorithm that takes two sorted lists --
// one increasing, the other decreasing -- and detects whether there is
// any pair of elements (one from the first list, the other from the
// second) that sum to a given value. Starting at the beginning of
// each list, we compute the current sum, and proceed to strike out any
// elements that we know cannot be part of a satisfying pair.
// If the sum of a[i] and b[j] is too small, then we know that a[i]
// cannot be part of any satisfying pair, since all remaining elements
// from b that it could be added to are at least as small as b[j], so we
// can strike it out (which we do by advancing i by 1). Similarly if
// the sum of a[i] and b[j] is too big, then we know that b[j] cannot
// be part of any satisfying pair, since all remaining elements from a
// that b[j] could be added to are at least as big as a[i], so we can
// strike it out (which we do by advancing j by 1). If we get to the
// end of either list without finding the right sum, there can be
// no satisfying pair.
i = 0
j = 0
while (i < length(a) and j < length(b)) {
if (a[i] + b[j] + t.value < target) {
i = i + 1
} else if (a[i] + b[j] + t.value > target) {
j = j + 1
} else {
print "Found! Topmost node=", t
return
}
}
// Recurse to examine the rest of the tree.
EnumerateTopmost(t.left)
EnumerateTopmost(t.right)
}
// Return a list of all sums that contain t and at most one of its children,
// in increasing order.
EnumerateSums(Tree t) {
If (t == NULL) {
// We have been called with the "child" of a leaf node.
return [] // Empty list
} else {
// Include a 0 in one of the child sum lists to stand for
// "just node t" (arbitrarily picking left here).
// Note that even if t is a leaf node, we still call ourselves on
// its "children" here -- in C/C++, a special "NULL" value represents
// these nonexistent children.
a = append(0, EnumerateSums(t.left))
b = EnumerateSums(t.right)
Add t.value to each element in a
Add t.value to each element in b
// "Ordinary" list merge that simply combines two sorted lists
// to produce a new sorted list, in linear time.
c = ListMerge(a, b)
return c
}
}
The above pseudocode only reports the topmost node in the path. The entire path can be reconstructed by having EnumerateSums() return a list of pairs (sum, goesLeft) instead of a plain list of sums, where goesLeft is a boolean that indicates whether the path used to generate that sum initially goes left from the parent node.
The above pseudocode calculates sum lists multiple times for each node: EnumerateSums(t) will be called once for each node above t in the tree, in addition to being called for t itself. It would be possible to make EnumerateSums() memoise the list of sums for each node so that it's not recomputed on subsequent calls, but actually this doesn't improve the asymptotics: only O(n) work is required to produce a list of n sums using the plain recursion, and changing this to O(1) doesn't change the overall time complexity because the entire list of sums produced by any call to EnumerateSums() must in general be read by the caller anyway, and this requires O(n) time. EDIT: As pointed out by Evgeny Kluev, EnumerateSums() actually behaves like a merge sort, being O(nlog n) when the tree is perfectly balanced and O(n^2) when it is a single path. So memoisation will in fact give an asymptotic performance improvement.
It is possible to get rid of the temporary lists of sums by rearranging EnumerateSums() into an iterator-like object that performs the list merge lazily, and can be queried to retrieve the next sum in increasing order. This would entail also creating an EnumerateSumsDown() that does the same thing but retrieves sums in decreasing order, and using this in place of reverse(append(0, EnumerateSums(t.right))). Doing this brings the space complexity of the algorithm down to O(n), where n is the number of nodes in the tree, since each iterator object requires constant space (pointers to left and right child iterator objects, plus a place to record the last sum) and there can be at most one per tree node.
i would in order traverse the left subtree and in reverse order traverse the right subtree at the same time kind of how merge sort works. each time move the iterator that makes the aum closer.like merge sort almost. its order n
Not the fastest, but simple approach would be to use two nested depth-first searches.
Use normal depth-first search to get starting node. Use second, modified version of depth-first search to check sums for all paths, starting from this node.
Second depth-first search is different from normal depth-first search in two details:
It keeps current path sum. It adds value to the sum each time a new node is added to the path and removes value from the sum when some node is removed.
It traverses edges of the path from root to the starting node only in opposite direction (red edges on diagram). All other edges are traversed in proper direction, as usual (black edges on diagram). To traverse edges in opposite direction, it either uses "parent" pointers of the original BST (if there are any), or peeks into the stack of first depth-first search to obtain these "parent" pointers.
Time complexity of each DFS in O(N), so total time complexity is O(N2). Space requirements are O(N) (space for both DFS stacks). If original BST contains "parent" pointers, space requirements are O(1) ("parent" pointers allow traversing the tree in any direction without stacks).
Other approach is based on ideas by j_random_hacker and robert king (maintaining lists of sums, matching them, then merging them together). It processes the tree in bottom-up manner (starting from leafs).
Use DFS to find some leaf node. Then go back and find the last branch node, that is a grand-...-grand-parent of this leaf node. This gives a chain between branch and leaf nodes. Process this chain:
match1(chain)
sum_list = sum(chain)
match1(chain):
i = j = sum = 0
loop:
while (sum += chain[i]) < target:
++i
while (sum -= chain[j]) > target:
++j
if sum == target:
success!
sum(chain):
result = [0]
sum = 0
i = chain.length - 1
loop:
sum += chain[i]
--i
result.append(sum)
return result
Continue DFS and search other leaf chains. When two chains, coming from the same node are found, possibly preceded by another chain (red and green chains on diagram, preceded by blue chain), process these chains:
match2(parent, sum_list1, sum_list2)
sum_list3 = merge1(parent, sum_list1, sum_list2)
if !chain3.empty:
match1(chain3)
match3(sum_list3, chain3)
sum_list4 = merge2(sum_list3, chain3)
match2(parent, sum_list1, sum_list2):
i = 0
j = chain2.length - 1
sum = target - parent.value
loop:
while sum < sum_list1[i] + sum_list2[j]:
++i
while sum > sum_list1[i] + sum_list2[j]:
--j
if sum == sum_list1[i] + sum_list2[j]:
success!
merge1(parent, sum_list1, sum_list2):
result = [0, parent.value]
i = j = 1
loop:
if sum_list1[i] < sum_list2[j]:
result.append(parent.value + sum_list1[i])
++i
else:
result.append(parent.value + sum_list2[j])
++j
return result
match3(sum_list3, chain3):
i = sum = 0
j = sum_list3.length - 1
loop:
sum += chain3[i++]
while sum_list3[j] + sum > target:
--j
if sum_list3[j] + sum == target:
success!
merge2(sum_list3, chain3):
result = [0]
sum = 0
i = chain3.length - 1
loop:
sum += chain3[i--]
result.append(sum)
result.append(sum_list3[1...] + sum)
Do the same wherever any two lists of sums or a chain and a list of sums are descendants of the same node. This process may be continued until a single list of sums, belonging to root node, remains.
Is there any complexity restrictions?
As you stated: "easy if a path means root to leaf, or easy if the path means a portion of a path from root to leaf that may not include the root or the leaf".
You can reduce the problem to this statement by setting the root each time to a different node and doing the search n times.
That would be a straightforward approach, not sure if optimal.
Edit: if the tree is unidirectional, something of this kind might work (pseudocode):
findSum(tree, sum)
if(isLeaf(tree))
return (sum == tree->data)
for (i = 0 to sum)
isfound |= findSum(leftSubStree, i) && findSum(rightSubTree, sum-i)
return isfound;
Probably lots of mistakes here, but hopefully it clarifies the idea.
The question is how to create a binary tree, given its ancestor matrix. I found a cool solution at http://www.ritambhara.in/build-binary-tree-from-ancestor-matrics/. Problem is that it involves deleting rows and columns from the matrix. Now how do I do that? Can anybody suggest a pseudocode for this? Or, is there any better algo possible?
You don't have to actually delete the rows and columns. You can either flag them as deleted in some additional array, or you can make them all zeros, which I think will be effectively the same (actually, you'll still need to know that they are removed, so you don't choose them again in step 4.c - so, flagging the node as deleted should be good enough).
Here are the modifications to the pseudocode from the page:
4.b.
used[temp] = true;
for (i = 0 to N)
Sum[i] -= matrix[i][temp]; (aka decrement sum if temp is a predecessor of i)
matrix[i][temp] = 0;
4.c. Look for all rows for which Sum[i] == 0 and used[i] == false.
This reminds me of the Dancing Links used by Doanld Knuth to implement his Algorithm X
It's basically a structure of circular doubly linked list. You could maintain a seperate Sum array and update it with removal of rows and columns as required.
Actually you don't need to maintain a separate Sum array.
Edit:
I meant -
You could use a structure made up of circular 2D linked lists.
The node structure would somewhat look like:
struct node{
int val;
struct node *left;
struct node *right;
struct node *down;
};
The Top-most and Left-most List is the header List for the vertices(Binary tree node values).
If vertex j is an ancestor of vertex i, build a (empty)new node such that j column's current down is assigned this new node and i's current left is assigned this new node. Note: Structure can be easily built by scanning each rows of ancestor matrix from left to right and inserting rows from 0 to N. (assuming N is the no. of vertices here)
I borrowed these images from Image1 and Image2 to give an idea of the grid. 2nd image is missing the Left-most header though.
If N is no. of vertices. There can be at worse O(N^2) entries in ancestor matrix(in case tree is skewed) or on average O(NlogN) entries.
To search for current Root: O(N)
Assuming a dummy node to start with, linearly scan the Leftmost header and choose a node with node->down->right == node->down.
To delete this vertex information: O(N)
Deleting row:O(1)
node->down = node->down->down;
Deleting column:O(N)
Goto the corresponding column - say(p):
node* q = p;
while(q->down != p){
q->down->left->right = q->down->right;
q->down->right->left = q->down->left;
q = q->down;
}
After discovering current Root you can assign it to it's parent node and insert them into a Queue to process the next level as per that link suggests you to.
Overall time complexity: N + (N-1) + (N-2) +.... = O(N^2).
Worst case space complexity O(N^2)
Though there is no big improvement in the asymptotic run-time from the solution you already have. I thought it's worth mentioning since, this kind of structure can be particularly useful for storing sparse matrices and defining operations like multiplication on them or if you are working with some backtracking algorithm which removes a row/column and later backtracks and adds it again like Knuth's AlgorithmX.
You don't have to update the matrix. Just decrement the values in the sum array for any descendents of the current node, and check if any of them reaches zero, which means the current noe is that last ancestor, e.g. the direct parent:
for (i = 0 to N)
if matrix[i][temp]==1:
Sum[i]=Sum[i]-1
if Sum[i]==0:
add i as child of temp
add i to queue
quoting Wikipedia:
It is perfectly acceptable to use a
traditional binary tree data structure
to implement a binary heap. There is
an issue with finding the adjacent
element on the last level on the
binary heap when adding an element
which can be resolved
algorithmically...
Any ideas on how such an algorithm might work?
I was not able to find any information about this issue, for most binary heaps are implemented using arrays.
Any help appreciated.
Recently, I have registered an OpenID account and am not able to edit my initial post nor comment answers. That's why I am responding via this answer. Sorry for this.
quoting Mitch Wheat:
#Yse: is your question "How do I find
the last element of a binary heap"?
Yes, it is.
Or to be more precise, my question is: "How do I find the last element of a non-array-based binary heap?".
quoting Suppressingfire:
Is there some context in which you're
asking this question? (i.e., is there
some concrete problem you're trying to
solve?)
As stated above, I would like to know a good way to "find the last element of a non-array-based binary heap" which is necessary for insertion and deletion of nodes.
quoting Roy:
It seems most understandable to me to
just use a normal binary tree
structure (using a pRoot and Node
defined as [data, pLeftChild,
pRightChild]) and add two additional
pointers (pInsertionNode and
pLastNode). pInsertionNode and
pLastNode will both be updated during
the insertion and deletion subroutines
to keep them current when the data
within the structure changes. This
gives O(1) access to both insertion
point and last node of the structure.
Yes, this should work. If I am not mistaken, it could be a little bit tricky to find the insertion node and the last node, when their locations change to another subtree due to an deletion/insertion. But I'll give this a try.
quoting Zach Scrivena:
How about performing a depth-first
search...
Yes, this would be a good approach. I'll try that out, too.
Still I am wondering, if there is a way to "calculate" the locations of the last node and the insertion point. The height of a binary heap with N nodes can be calculated by taking the log (of base 2) of the smallest power of two that is larger than N. Perhaps it is possible to calculate the number of nodes on the deepest level, too. Then it was maybe possible to determine how the heap has to be traversed to reach the insertion point or the node for deletion.
Basically, the statement quoted refers to the problem of resolving the location for insertion and deletion of data elements into and from the heap. In order to maintain "the shape property" of a binary heap, the lowest level of the heap must always be filled from left to right leaving no empty nodes. To maintain the average O(1) insertion and deletion times for the binary heap, you must be able to determine the location for the next insertion and the location of the last node on the lowest level to use for deletion of the root node, both in constant time.
For a binary heap stored in an array (with its implicit, compacted data structure as explained in the Wikipedia entry), this is easy. Just insert the newest data member at the end of the array and then "bubble" it into position (following the heap rules). Or replace the root with the last element in the array "bubbling down" for deletions. For heaps in array storage, the number of elements in the heap is an implicit pointer to where the next data element is to be inserted and where to find the last element to use for deletion.
For a binary heap stored in a tree structure, this information is not as obvious, but because it's a complete binary tree, it can be calculated. For example, in a complete binary tree with 4 elements, the point of insertion will always be the right child of the left child of the root node. The node to use for deletion will always be the left child of the left child of the root node. And for any given arbitrary tree size, the tree will always have a specific shape with well defined insertion and deletion points. Because the tree is a "complete binary tree" with a specific structure for any given size, it is very possible to calculate the location of insertion/deletion in O(1) time. However, the catch is that even when you know where it is structurally, you have no idea where the node will be in memory. So, you have to traverse the tree to get to the given node which is an O(log n) process making all inserts and deletions a minimum of O(log n), breaking the usually desired O(1) behavior. Any search ("depth-first", or some other) will be at least O(log n) as well because of the traversal issue noted and usually O(n) because of the random nature of the semi-sorted heap.
The trick is to be able to both calculate and reference those insertion/deletion points in constant time either by augmenting the data structure ("threading" the tree, as mention in the Wikipedia article) or using additional pointers.
The implementation which seems to me to be the easiest to understand, with low memory and extra coding overhead, is to just use a normal simple binary tree structure (using a pRoot and Node defined as [data, pParent, pLeftChild, pRightChild]) and add two additional pointers (pInsert and pLastNode). pInsert and pLastNode will both be updated during the insertion and deletion subroutines to keep them current when the data within the structure changes. This implementation gives O(1) access to both insertion point and last node of the structure and should allow preservation of overall O(1) behavior in both insertion and deletions. The cost of the implementation is two extra pointers and some minor extra code in the insertion/deletion subroutines (aka, minimal).
EDIT: added pseudocode for an O(1) insert()
Here is pseudo code for an insert subroutine which is O(1), on average:
define Node = [T data, *pParent, *pLeft, *pRight]
void insert(T data)
{
do_insertion( data ); // do insertion, update count of data items in tree
# assume: pInsert points node location of the tree that where insertion just took place
# (aka, either shuffle only data during the insertion or keep pInsert updated during the bubble process)
int N = this->CountOfDataItems + 1; # note: CountOfDataItems will always be > 0 (and pRoot != null) after an insertion
p = new Node( <null>, null, null, null); // new empty node for the next insertion
# update pInsert (three cases to handle)
if ( int(log2(N)) == log2(N) )
{# #1 - N is an exact power of two
# O(log2(N))
# tree is currently a full complete binary tree ("perfect")
# ... must start a new lower level
# traverse from pRoot down tree thru each pLeft until empty pLeft is found for insertion
pInsert = pRoot;
while (pInsert->pLeft != null) { pInsert = pInsert->pLeft; } # log2(N) iterations
p->pParent = pInsert;
pInsert->pLeft = p;
}
else if ( isEven(N) )
{# #2 - N is even (and NOT a power of 2)
# O(1)
p->pParent = pInsert->pParent;
pInsert->pParent->pRight = p;
}
else
{# #3 - N is odd
# O(1)
p->pParent = pInsert->pParent->pParent->pRight;
pInsert->pParent->pParent->pRight->pLeft = p;
}
pInsert = p;
// update pLastNode
// ... [similar process]
}
So, insert(T) is O(1) on average: exactly O(1) in all cases except when the tree must be increased by one level when it is O(log N), which happens every log N insertions (assuming no deletions). The addition of another pointer (pLeftmostLeaf) could make insert() O(1) for all cases and avoids the possible pathologic case of alternating insertion & deletion in a full complete binary tree. (Adding pLeftmost is left as an exercise [it's fairly easy].)
My first time to participate in stack overflow.
Yes, the above answer by Zach Scrivena (god I don't know how to properly refer to other people, sorry) is right. What I want to add is a simplified way if we are given the count of nodes.
The basic idea is:
Given the count N of nodes in this full binary tree, do "N % 2" calculation and push the results into a stack. Continue the calculation until N == 1. Then pop the results out. The result being 1 means right, 0 means left. The sequence is the route from root to target position.
Example:
The tree now have 10 nodes, I want insert another node at position 11. How to route it?
11 % 2 = 1 --> right (the quotient is 5, and push right into stack)
5 % 2 = 1 --> right (the quotient is 2, and push right into stack)
2 % 2 = 0 --> left (the quotient is 1, and push left into stack. End)
Then pop the stack: left -> right -> right. This is the path from the root.
You could use the binary representation of the size of the Binary Heap to find the location of the last node in O(log N). The size could be stored and incremented which would take O(1) time. The the fundamental concept behind this is the structure of the binary tree.
Suppose our heap size is 7. The binary representation of 7 is, "111". Now, remember to always omit the first bit. So, now we are left with "11". Read from left-to-right. The bit is '1', so, go to the right child of the root node. Then the string left is "1", the first bit is '1'. So, again go to the right child of the current node you are at. As you no longer have bits to process, this indicates that you have reached the last node. So, the raw working of the process is that, convert the size of the heap into bits. Omit the first bit. According to the leftmost bit, go to the right child of the current node if it is '1', and to the left child of the current node if it is '0'.
As you always to to the very end of the binary tree this operation always takes O(log N) time. This is a simple and accurate procedure to find the last node.
You may not understand it in the first reading. Try working this method on the paper for different values of Binary Heap, I'm sure you'll get the intuition behind it. I'm sure this knowledge is enough to solve your problem, if you want more explanation with figures, you can refer to my blog.
Hope my answer has helped you, if it did, let me know...! ☺
How about performing a depth-first search, visiting the left child before the right child, to determine the height of the tree. Thereafter, the first leaf you encounter with a shorter depth, or a parent with a missing child would indicate where you should place the new node before "bubbling up".
The depth-first search (DFS) approach above doesn't assume that you know the total number of nodes in the tree. If this information is available, then we can "zoom-in" quickly to the desired place, by making use of the properties of complete binary trees:
Let N be the total number of nodes in the tree, and H be the height of the tree.
Some values of (N,H) are (1,0), (2,1), (3,1), (4,2), ..., (7,2), (8, 3).
The general formula relating the two is H = ceil[log2(N+1)] - 1.
Now, given only N, we want to traverse from the root to the position for the new node, in the least number of steps, i.e. without any "backtracking".
We first compute the total number of nodes M in a perfect binary tree of height H = ceil[log2(N+1)] - 1, which is M = 2^(H+1) - 1.
If N == M, then our tree is perfect, and the new node should be added in a new level. This means that we can simply perform a DFS (left before right) until we hit the first leaf; the new node becomes the left child of this leaf. End of story.
However, if N < M, then there are still vacancies in the last level of our tree, and the new node should be added to the leftmost vacant spot.
The number of nodes that are already at the last level of our tree is just (N - 2^H + 1).
This means that the new node takes spot X = (N - 2^H + 2) from the left, at the last level.
Now, to get there from the root, you will need to make the correct turns (L vs R) at each level so that you end up at spot X at the last level. In practice, you would determine the turns with a little computation at each level. However, I think the following table shows the big picture and the relevant patterns without getting mired in the arithmetic (you may recognize this as a form of arithmetic coding for a uniform distribution):
0 0 0 0 0 X 0 0 <--- represents the last level in our tree, X marks the spot!
^
L L L L R R R R <--- at level 0, proceed to the R child
L L R R L L R R <--- at level 1, proceed to the L child
L R L R L R L R <--- at level 2, proceed to the R child
^ (which is the position of the new node)
this column tells us
if we should proceed to the L or R child at each level
EDIT: Added a description on how to get to the new node in the shortest number of steps assuming that we know the total number of nodes in the tree.
Solution in case you don't have reference to parent !!!
To find the right place for next node you have 3 cases to handle
case (1) Tree level is complete Log2(N)
case (2) Tree node count is even
case (3) Tree node count is odd
Insert:
void Insert(Node root,Node n)
{
Node parent = findRequiredParentToInsertNewNode (root);
if(parent.left == null)
parent.left = n;
else
parent.right = n;
}
Find the parent of the node in order to insert it
void findRequiredParentToInsertNewNode(Node root){
Node last = findLastNode(root);
//Case 1
if(2*Math.Pow(levelNumber) == NodeCount){
while(root.left != null)
root=root.left;
return root;
}
//Case 2
else if(Even(N)){
Node n =findParentOfLastNode(root ,findParentOfLastNode(root ,last));
return n.right;
}
//Case 3
else if(Odd(N)){
Node n =findParentOfLastNode(root ,last);
return n;
}
}
To find the last node you need to perform a BFS (breadth first search) and get the last element in the queue
Node findLastNode(Node root)
{
if (root.left == nil)
return root
Queue q = new Queue();
q.enqueue(root);
Node n = null;
while(!q.isEmpty()){
n = q.dequeue();
if ( n.left != null )
q.enqueue(n.left);
if ( n.right != null )
q.enqueue(n.right);
}
return n;
}
Find the parent of the last node in order to set the node to null in case replacing with the root in removal case
Node findParentOfLastNode(Node root ,Node lastNode)
{
if(root == null)
return root;
if( root.left == lastNode || root.right == lastNode )
return root;
Node n1= findParentOfLastNode(root.left,lastNode);
Node n2= findParentOfLastNode(root.left,lastNode);
return n1 != null ? n1 : n2;
}
I know this is an old thread but i was looking for a answer to the same question. But i could not afford to do an o(log n) solution as i had to find the last node thousands of times in a few seconds. I did have a O(log n) algorithm but my program was crawling because of the number of times it performed this operation. So after much thought I did finally find a fix for this. Not sure if anybody things this is interesting.
This solution is O(1) for search. For insertion it is definitely less than O(log n), although I cannot say it is O(1).
Just wanted to add that if there is interest, i can provide my solution as well.
The solution is to add the nodes in the binary heap to a queue. Every queue node has front and back pointers.We keep adding nodes to the end of this queue from left to right until we reach the last node in the binary heap. At this point, the last node in the binary heap will be in the rear of the queue.
Every time we need to find the last node, we dequeue from the rear,and the second-to-last now becomes the last node in the tree.
When we want to insert, we search backwards from the rear for the first node where we can insert and put it there. It is not exactly O(1) but reduces the running time dramatically.