In a binary search tree, what is the maximum number of nodes at depth 'd'?
Practice Questions
Q1
In a binary search tree, what is the maximum number of nodes at depth 'd'?
2^d
2^(d+1) - 1
d^2
d!
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
In a binary search tree, what is the maximum number of nodes at depth 'd'?
Step 1: Understand what a binary search tree (BST) is. A BST is a tree data structure where each node has at most two children, and the left child is less than the parent node, while the right child is greater.
Step 2: Know what 'depth' means. Depth 'd' refers to the number of edges from the root node to the node in question. The root node is at depth 0.
Step 3: Realize that at each depth level, a node can have two children. This means that as you go deeper into the tree, the number of nodes can double.
Step 4: Calculate the maximum number of nodes at depth 'd'. At depth 0 (the root), there is 1 node (2^0 = 1). At depth 1, there can be 2 nodes (2^1 = 2). At depth 2, there can be 4 nodes (2^2 = 4), and so on.
Step 5: Generalize this pattern. The maximum number of nodes at any depth 'd' is given by the formula 2^d.
