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Section 8.22 Glossary

Glossary Glossary

AVL tree.
a binary search tree that automatically makes sure the tree remains balanced at all times.
balance factor.
the difference between the height of the left and right subtrees of a node.
binary heap.
a complete binary tree that follows heap ordering rules.
binary search tree.
a binary tree in which each node has no more than 2 children; node values in the left sub-tree are less than the parent while node values in the right sub-tree are.
binary tree.
a tree with a maximum of two children for each node.
bst propery.
property of a binary search key in which the keys that are less than the parent are found in the left subtree and keys that are greater than the parent are found in the right subtree.
children.
the nodes that one node leads to.
complete binary tree.
a tree in which each level has all of its nodes, with the exception of the bottom level.
edge.
connects two nodes in a tree; has only one incoming edge.
heap order property.
property of the heap based on min heap or max heap (i.e. in a min heap, every node x with a parent p, the key in p is smaller than or equal to the key in x).
height.
the maximum level of any node in the tree.
inorder.
recursive tree traversal in which the left subtree is visited, then the root node, followed by the right subtree.
leaf node.
a node that has no children.
level.
the number of edges on the path from the root to the current node.
max heap.
a binary heap in which the largest key is always at the front.
min heap.
a binary heap in which the smallest key is always at the front.
node.
part of the tree that holds information.
parent.
a node that leads to other nodes.
path.
an ordered list of nodes connected by edges.
postorder.
recursive tree traversal in which the left subtree is visited, then the right, followed by the root node.
preorder.
recursive tree traversal in which the root node is visited, then the left, followed by the right subtree.
priority queue.
a queue whose elements have a priority that determines their order.
root.
the starting point of the tree; has no incoming edges.
rotation.
rotating the parent and children nodes in a subtree to reorganize their hierarchy.
sibling.
children of the same parent node.
subtree.
a section of a tree.
successor.
a node that can replace another node while preserving the binary search tree relationships; the next-largest key in the tree.
tree.
a hierarchal data structure with a root, branches, and leaves.
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