This was one of the questions asked in a interview. Where I need to find the root node of the binary tree. There is no parent node like (Node parent) in the below definition of binary tree.
We have access to any node in the binary tree. It can be root or it can be any other node as well.
Binary tree :
1
/ \
2 3
/ \ / \
4 5 6 7
We might have access to say Node 5
Definition of Binary Tree is as below :
class Node
{
int data;
Node left;
Node right;
Node(int data)
{
this.data = data;
this.left = null;
this.right = null;
}
}
Any ideas how I can be achieved this.
public Node getParent(Node current)
{
}
Thanks !
Actually there may be many roots in the graph, that is node without parents or simply not reference by another node.
You could go through all node 1 time, and put the child node you encounter into a Set. The roots (node without parents) is the difference between all nodes in the tree and nodes in the set.
This would work in O(N), N being the number of nodes as long as the equals/hashCode method are fast. If the node are not duplicated in memory you would be able the memory reference for equality/hashCode and be extremely fast.
But this is only one random solution. You may want to change the data structure for example to have on one side all the nodes and on the other side a pointer to the root so then the access become O(1).
You should check a book on algorithmics to see all the possible solutions that make sense with their benefits and drawbacks.
Hopefully for an interview, what the interviewer look for is not necessarily that you know the response but that you are able to understand the problem, ask question to be sure you got it right, find at least one solution even if naive, be able to criticize it and potentially know way of improving it (like reading the book on algorithms).
Related
I am given an array of integers like this: [56,200,213,96, {}, {},...] and Im asked to print a BST (binary search tree) using DOT. For any array given the root will be the position 0 of the array, arr[0]. This should be developed using Eclipse.
However, my confusion about this particular task is how to make this algorithm in Java and then use the DOT language to "draw" the tree? Or should it be directly done with DOT? Maybe im approaching the task with the wrong perspective.
Ive done research about BST, the different types of orders and the node structure to compare numbers and insert them to "make" the tree and I already know how to handle Eclipse and Java.
//Part of my node structure for the BST algorithm
class Node {
int value;
Node left;
Node right;
Node(int value) {
this.value = value;
right = null;
left = null;
}
}
Below an example of the output for any given array:
Dear Friends I am an intermediate java user. I am stuck in a following problem. I want to construct a unordered binary tree [or general tree having at most two nodes] from a multi line (let say 40 lines) text file. The text file is then divided into two halfs; let say 20:20 lines. Then for each half a specific (let say hash) value is calculated and stored in the root node. So each node contains four elements. Two pointers to the two children (left and right) and two hashes of the two halfs of the original file. Next for each half (20 lines) the process is repeated until at each leaf we have a single line of text. Let the node have
public class BinaryTree {
private BinaryTreeNode leftNode, rightNode;
private String leftHash,rightHash;
}
I need help for writing the tree construction and searching functions. Well searching is performed by entering a line. Then hash code is created for this query line and compared against the two hashes saved at each node. If the hash of query line is close to leftHas then leftNode is accessed and if the hash of query line is close to rightHash then rightNode is accessed. The process continues until an exact hash is found.
I just need the tree construction and search teachnique. The hash comparison etc are not a problem
You'll need to start by reading the file into a string.
The first character in the string could be used as the root. Root + 1 would be the left, root + 2 would be the right
Consider left node of the root (Root + 1), you could also consider this as Root + N. Meaning that the right node would be Root + N + 1.
You can now recursively solve this problem by establishing which Node you are currently on, and setting the left and right now respectively.
So lets think about it,
You have the root node, left node, and right node established. At this point you have used 3 letters/numbers (it really doesnt matter if it is unordered). The next step would be to move down one level and start filling the left, you have the root, you need left and right nodes. Then move to the right node, do the left and right node of this and so on and so forth.
Think about that for a little bit and see where you get.
Cheers,
Mike
EDIT:
To search,
Searching a binary tree is also a recursive theme. (I thought you previously said the tree was unordered, which may change how the tree is laid out if it is suppose to be order).
If it is unordered, you can simply recurse the tree in a manner such that
A.) Check root node
B.) Check left node
C.) Continue checking left nodes until either there is a match, or no more left nodes to check
D.) Recurse back 1, check right node
E.) Check left nodes,
F.) Recuse back, check right node
This theme will continue until eventually you have checked ALL left nodes first, and then the right nodes. The KEY to this, is at any point you have a root node, go left first, then right. (I forget what traversal type this is, but there are others if you wish to implement them over this, i personally think this is the easiest to remember).
You will then repeat for right child of Root node.
If at any time you get a match, exit.
Remember this is recursive, so make sure you think your way through this step by step. It is recursive by definition, in that you will always do steps x,y,z for each part of the tree.
To beat a dead horse, lets look at just 3 nodes to start.
(simplified)
First the root,
if(root == (what your looking for))
{
return root
}
else if(root.leftNode == (what your looking for))
{
return root.leftNode
}
else if(root.rightNode == (what your looking for))
{
return root.rightNode
}
else
{
System.out.println("Value not found")
}
If you have 5 nodes, that would be root would have a left and right, and the root.leftNode would have a left and right... You would repeat the steps above on root.leftNode also, then search root.rightNode
If you have 7 nodes, you would search ALL of root.leftNode and then recurse back to search root.leftNode.
I hope this helps,
pictures work much better in my opinion when talking about traversing trees.
Perhaps look here for a better visual
http://www.newthinktank.com/2013/03/binary-tree-in-java/
If given the following tree structure or one similar to it:
I would want the string ZYXWVUT returned. I know how to do this with a binary tree but not one that can have more than child nodes. Any help would be much appreciated.
This is called a post-order traversal of a tree: you print the content of all subtrees of a tree before printing the content of the node itself.
This can be done recursively, like this (pseudocode):
function post_order(Tree node)
foreach n in node.children
post_order(n)
print(node.text)
If you are maintaining an ArrayList (say node_list) to track the number of nodes branching of from the current tree node, you can traverse the tree from the root till you find a node that has an empty node_list. This way you will be able to identify the leaf nodes of the tree. A recursive approach would work for this case. I haven't tested the code but I believe this should work for what you have asked:
If you are maintaining something similar to the class below to build your tree:
class Node {
String data;
ArrayList<Node> node_list;}
The following recursive function might be what you are looking for:
public void traverse_tree(Node n){
if(n.node_list.isEmpty()){
System.out.print(n.data);
}
else{
for(Node current_node:n.node_list){
traverse_tree(current_node);
}
System.out.println(n.data);
}
}
Essentially what you are looking at is the Post-order Depth First traversal of the tree.
something like this should do it
public void traverse(){
for(Child child : this.children){
child.traverse();
}
System.out.print(this.value);
}
I am using a Breadth first search in a program that is trying to find and return the shortest path between two nodes on an unweighted digraph.
My program works like the wikipedia page psuedo code
The algorithm uses a queue data structure to store intermediate results as it traverses the graph, as follows:
Enqueue the root node
Dequeue a node and examine it
If the element sought is found in this node, quit the search and return a result.
Otherwise enqueue any successors (the direct child nodes) that have not yet been discovered.
If the queue is empty, every node on the graph has been examined – quit the search and return "not found".
If the queue is not empty, repeat from Step 2.
So I have been thinking of how to track number of steps made but I am having trouble with the limitations of java (I am not very knowledgeable of how java works). I originally was thinking that I could create some queue made up of a data type I made that stores steps and nodes, and as it traverses the graph it keeps track of the steps. If ever the goal is reached just simply return the steps.
I don't know how to make this work in java so I had to get rid of that idea and I moved on to using that wonky Queue = new LinkedList implementation of a queue. So basically I think it is a normal integer queue, I couldn't get my data type I made to work with it.
So now I have to find a more basic approach so I tried to use a simple counter, this doesn't work because the traversal algorithm searches down many paths before reaching the shortest one so I had an idea. I added a second queue that tracked steps, and I added a couple counters. Any time a node is added to the first queue I add to the counter, meaning I know that I am inspecting new nodes so I am not a distance further away. Once all those have been inspected I can then increase the step counter and any time a node is added to the first queue I add the step value to the step queue. The step queue is managed just like the node queue so that when the goal node is found the corresponding step should be the one to be dequeued out.
This doesn't work though and I was having a lot of problems with it, I am actually not sure why.
I deleted most of my code in panic and frustration but I will start to try and recreate it and post it here if anyone needs me to.
Were any of my ideas close and how can I make them work? I am sure there is a standard and simple way of doing this as well that I am not clever enough to see.
Code would help. What data structure are you using to store the partial or candidate solutions? You say your using a queue to store nodes to be examined, but really the objects stored in the queue should wrap some structure (e.g. List) that indicates the nodes traversed to get to the node to be examined. So, instead of simple Nodes being stored in the queue, some more complex object would be needed to make available the information necessary to know the complete path taken to that point. A simple node would only have information about itself, and it's children. But if you're examining node X, you also need to know how you arrived to node X. Just knowing node X isn't enough, and the only way (I know of) to know the path taken to node X is to store the path in the object that represents a "partial solution" or "candidate solution". If this is done, then finding the length of the path is trivial, because it's just the length of this list (or whichever data structure chosen). Hope I'm making some sense here. If not, post code and I'll take a look.
EDIT
These bits of code help show what I mean (they're by no means complete):
public class Solution {
List<Node> path;
}
Queue<Solution> q;
NOT
Queue<Node> q;
EDIT 2
If all you need is the length of the path, and not the path, per se, then try something like this:
public class Solution {
Node node; // whatever represents a node in you algorithm.
int len; // the length of the path to this node.
}
// Your queue:
LinkedList<Solution> q;
With this, before enqueuing a candidate solution (node), you do something like:
Solution sol = new Solution();
sol.node = childNodeToEnqueue;
sol.len = parentNode.len + 1;
q.add(sol);
The easiest solution in order to track distance during a traversal is to add a simple array (or a map if you vertices are not indexed by integers).
Here is pseudo code algorithm:
shortest_path(g, src, dst):
q = new empty queue
distances = int array of length order of g
for i = 0 to order: distances[i] = -1
distances[src] = 0
enqueue src in q
while q is not empty:
cur = pop next element in q
if cur is dst: return distances[dst]
foreach s in successors of cur in g:
if distances[s] == -1:
distances[s] = distances[cur] + 1
enqueue s in q
return not found
Note: order of a graph is the number of vertices
You don't need special data structures, the queue can just contains vertices' id (probably integers). In Java, LinkedList class implements the Queue interface, so it's a good candidate for your queue. For the distances array, if your vertices are identified by integers an integer array is enough, otherwise you need a kind of map.
You can also separate the vertex tainting (the -1 in my algo) using a separate boolean array or a set, but it's not really necessary and will waste some space.
If you want the path, you can also do that with a simple parent array: for each vertex you store its parent in the traversal, just add parent[s] = cur when you enqueue the successor. Then retrieving the path (in reverse order) is a simple like this:
path = new empty stack
cur = dst
while cur != src:
push cur in path
cur = parent[cur]
push src in path
And there you are …
So Currently I have a program that creates a huffman tree. the tree is made up of "Hnodes" with these fields: right (points to right child) left (points to left child) code (string of integers, ideally the 0's and 1's that will be the huffman code of this node) character (the character contained in the node).
I have created the huffman tree by adding nodes from a linked list - i know the tree was created correctly. As i created the tree, i told the node when i gave it a parent node, that if it was the parent's "right", its code string was 1, if left 0. However obviously after the entire tree is created, each node is only going to have either a 0 or 1, but not yet a string like 00100101. My question is, now that I have this tree, can can I traverse it? I understand the thought would be to give each child its parent's code + the child's own code, but I do not understand how to loop through the tree to accomplish this.
Thank you in advance.
Maybe this?
ExpandBinaryPaths(node, prefix)
1. if node is null then return
2. else then
3. node.binary = prefix concat node.binary
4. ExpandBinaryPaths(node.left, node.binary)
5. ExpandBinaryPaths(node.right, node.binary)
6. return
The idea is you would call this on the root with no prefix... ExpandBinaryPaths(root, "").