AVL Trees
And the pain you must suffer to
learn them
The AVL Property
• For every node the left and right side differ
in height by less than two.
• The left and right side are themselves AVL
trees.
How Balanced is That?
• AVL trees might end up kinda 'sparse'.
• The worst case height of an AVL tree with
n nodes is about 1.44log(n).
• Discussion at
http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/~morris/Year2/P
LDS210/AVL.html
Rotations
• Rotations are to rearrange nodes to
maintain AVLness.
• They are needed on insert and delete.
Names of Rotations
• There are four of them
– Single Left (LL) and Single Right (RR)
– Double Left (LR) and Double Right (RL)
• The names describe which way the node
moves. For example, a left rotation moves
the node down and left.
• Nodes always move down when rotated.
How To Do Single Rotations
A Left Rotation via Pointers
temp=p->right ;
p->right=temp->left ;
temp->left=p ;
p=temp ;
Double Rotation
• A LR double rotation is to rotate something
to the left, and then its former parent to the
right.
• A RL double rotation is to rotate something
to the right, and then its former parent to
the left.
Rotation Examples
• All the rotations in picture form
http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~maire/avl/System/AVLT
ree.html
• All the rotations in pictures and text
http://www.cs.jcu.edu.au/Subjects/cp2001/1997/f
oils/balancedTrees/balancedTrees.html
• Sample single and double rotations
http://ironbark.bendigo.latrobe.edu.au/courses/s
ubjects/DataStructures/mal/session200/
lecture.html
The AVL Insertion Algorithm
• An Intuitive description can be found at
http://www.ucfv.bc.ca/cis/watkissc/200009/
200009Comp175/notes/avlTrees.html
The AVL Game
• Play the game
http://www.seanet.com/users/arsen/avltree
.html
The Insertion Algorithm
• Recursively call down to find the insertion
point.
• Insert there (it will always be a leaf node).
• Call rebalance at the end.
– Will rebalance from the bottup up.
– Will rebalance only the path from the change to
the root.
Insertion Code
insert_node (inData)
{
if (this == NULL)
return new Node<T> (inData);
if (inData < data)
left = left -> insert_node (inData);
else
right = right -> insert_node (inData);
return balance ();
}
Notes About the Code
• Calls balance on the way up.
• Only calls balance on the path between the
change and the root.
• Call balance too many times for an insert.
• In this example ....
We never change the parent node (or root).
Instead we return what that parent node
should be. Neat trick!
The Deletion Algorithm
• Find the place to delete.
• Swap with the in order successor.
• Delete that node
– Remember, he might have ONE kid.
• Rebalance on the way up from the node
you just deleted.
Balancing
Let d = difference in height between kids.
If (abs(d) < 2) return;
If (d < 0) // Heavy on the left
if (right->difference > 0) // kid heavy on right
right = right->rotate_right();
return rotate_left();
.... // same stuff other side
recompute my height
return
Computing the Height
• Each node's height is just
max(left->height, right->height) + 1;
• This only changes along the path from
insertion/deletion to the root.
• The obvious recursive code searches the
entire tree ... don't do that!
