All Possible Full Binary Trees - Complete Solution Guide
All Possible Full Binary Trees is LeetCode problem 894, a Medium level challenge. This complete guide provides step-by-step explanations, multiple solution approaches, and optimized code in python3, java, cpp, c.
Problem Statement
Given an integer n , return a list of all possible full binary trees with n nodes . Each node of each tree in the answer must have Node.val == 0 . Each element of the answer is the root node of one possible tree. You may return the final list of trees in any order . A full binary tree is a binary tree where each node has exactly 0 or 2 children. Example 1: Input: n = 7 Output: [[0,0,0,null,null,0,0,null,null,0,0],[0,0,0,null,null,0,0,0,0],[0,0,0,0,0,0,0],[0,0,0,0,0,null,null,null,null,0,0],[0,0,
Detailed Explanation
The problem asks us to generate all possible full binary trees with a given number of nodes 'n'. A full binary tree is a tree where each node has either 0 or 2 children. We are given an integer 'n' representing the number of nodes, and we need to return a list of the root nodes of all possible full binary trees that can be formed using 'n' nodes. Each node in the tree must have a value of 0. The order of the trees in the output list doesn't matter. The constraint is that 1 <= n <= 20.
Solution Approach
The solution uses a recursive approach with memoization. The `solve(k)` function returns a list of all possible full binary trees with 'k' nodes. The base case is when k = 1, where the function returns a list containing a single node with value 0. For larger values of 'k', the function iterates through all possible sizes of the left subtree (i) and calculates the corresponding size of the right subtree (k - 1 - i). It then recursively calls `solve(i)` and `solve(k - 1 - i)` to get the lists of possible left and right subtrees. Finally, it combines each left subtree with each right subtree to create a new full binary tree with 'k' nodes, with the root node having a value of 0.
Step-by-Step Algorithm
- Step 1: Check if 'n' is even. If it is, return an empty list because a full binary tree can only have an odd number of nodes.
- Step 2: Initialize a memoization table (e.g., a dictionary or map) to store the results of subproblems. The keys are the number of nodes, and the values are the lists of possible full binary trees.
- Step 3: Define a recursive function `solve(k)` that takes the number of nodes 'k' as input.
- Step 4: In `solve(k)`, first check if the result for 'k' is already stored in the memoization table. If it is, return the stored result.
- Step 5: If the result is not in the memoization table, proceed to generate the possible full binary trees for 'k' nodes.
- Step 6: Iterate through all possible sizes 'i' of the left subtree, where 'i' ranges from 1 to k-1 with a step of 2 (because the left subtree must also have an odd number of nodes).
- Step 7: Calculate the size of the right subtree as k - 1 - i.
- Step 8: Recursively call `solve(i)` to get the list of possible left subtrees and `solve(k - 1 - i)` to get the list of possible right subtrees.
- Step 9: Iterate through all possible combinations of left and right subtrees, creating a new root node with value 0 and attaching the left and right subtrees to it.
- Step 10: Add the new full binary tree to the list of results.
- Step 11: Store the list of results in the memoization table for 'k'.
- Step 12: Return the list of results.
- Step 13: Call `solve(n)` to get the list of all possible full binary trees with 'n' nodes.
Key Insights
- Insight 1: A full binary tree can only have an odd number of nodes. If 'n' is even, there are no possible full binary trees.
- Insight 2: Recursion is a natural fit for solving this problem. We can break down the problem into smaller subproblems of creating full binary trees with fewer nodes.
- Insight 3: Memoization (dynamic programming) is crucial for optimizing the recursive solution. Without memoization, the solution would have exponential time complexity due to overlapping subproblems.
Complexity Analysis
Time Complexity: O(4^n / n^(3/2))
Space Complexity: O(4^n / n^(3/2))
Topics
This problem involves: Dynamic Programming, Tree, Recursion, Memoization, Binary Tree.
Companies
Asked at: Nvidia.