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Lesson 34 - Binary Trees
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Shape of a Binary Tree page 5 of 7

  1. The shape of a binary tree will affect its performance as a data structure and is dependent on the order of the data set.

  2. If the data set came in as a sorted list (1 2 3 4 ...), the binary tree is essentially a linked list with an unused left pointer in each node.

  3. A data set in random order will give a more balanced tree.

  4. Ideally, we want binary trees that are balanced with almost equal numbers of nodes in each subtree of a node. The characteristic of a balanced binary tree is defined as follows: for every node in the tree, the number of nodes in its left subtree is equal to the number of nodes in its right subtree, plus or minus one. Balancing binary trees will not be covered in this curriculum guide.


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