Binary Trees question. Checking for similar shape

Question

Hi I\'m stuck doing this, not sure how to go about it.

If I have two binary trees, how would I check if the have the same shape? Data in the nodes doesn\'t matter, j

Answer 1

If I have two binary trees, how would I check if the have the same shape?

You will be pleased to know that binary trees have an interesting property: they can be represented as arrays. Simply convert each tree to one of these arrays and compare the array contents. Blank cells correspond to left or right children that don't exist, defining the structure of the tree. You want to iterate over both arrays and make sure that each blank cell encountered in one array appears in the other array; this is O(n).

Of course, if the arrays are different sizes, you don't have to do any work at all, since trees with different numbers of nodes can't possibly have identical structure. From there, you're all done.