235.Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Search Tree¶
Tags: Easy
Tree
Links: https://leetcode.com/problems/lowest-common-ancestor-of-a-binary-search-tree/
Given a binary search tree (BST), find the lowest common ancestor (LCA) of two given nodes in the BST.
According to the definition of LCA on Wikipedia: “The lowest common ancestor is defined between two nodes p and q as the lowest node in T that has both p and q as descendants (where we allow a node to be a descendant of itself).”
Given binary search tree: root = [6,2,8,0,4,7,9,null,null,3,5]
Example 1:
Input: root = [6,2,8,0,4,7,9,null,null,3,5], p = 2, q = 8
Output: 6
Explanation: The LCA of nodes 2 and 8 is 6.
Example 2:
Input: root = [6,2,8,0,4,7,9,null,null,3,5], p = 2, q = 4
Output: 2
Explanation: The LCA of nodes 2 and 4 is 2, since a node can be a descendant of itself according to the LCA definition.
Note:
- All of the nodes' values will be unique.
- p and q are different and both values will exist in the BST.
/**
* Definition for a binary tree node.
* struct TreeNode {
* int val;
* TreeNode *left;
* TreeNode *right;
* TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
* };
*/
class Solution {
public:
TreeNode* lowestCommonAncestor(TreeNode* root, TreeNode* p, TreeNode* q) {
std::ios_base::sync_with_stdio(false);
cin.tie(NULL);
cout.tie(NULL);
if (root -> val > p -> val && root -> val > q -> val)
return lowestCommonAncestor(root -> left, p, q);
else if (root -> val < p -> val && root -> val < q -> val)
return lowestCommonAncestor(root -> right, p, q);
return root;
}
};
由于二叉搜索树的特点是左<根<右,所以根节点的值一直都是中间值,大于左子树的所有节点值,小于右子树的所有节点值,那么我们可以做如下的判断,如果根节点的值大于p和q之间的较大值,说明p和q都在左子树中,那么此时我们就进入根节点的左子节点继续递归,如果根节点小于p和q之间的较小值,说明p和q都在右子树中,那么此时我们就进入根节点的右子节点继续递归,如果都不是,则说明当前根节点就是最小共同父节点,直接返回即可