Difference between binary tree and binary search tree

Question

Can anyone please explain the difference between binary tree and binary search tree with an example?

Answer 1

• Binary search tree: when inorder traversal is made on binary tree, you get sorted values of inserted items
• Binary tree: no sorted order is found in any kind of traversal

Answer 2

Binary tree: Tree where each node has up to two leaves

  1
 / \
2   3

---

Binary search tree: Used for searching. A binary tree where the left child contains only nodes with values less than the parent node, and where the right child only contains nodes with values greater than or equal to the parent.

  2
 / \
1   3

Answer 3

A binary tree is made of nodes, where each node contains a "left" pointer, a "right" pointer, and a data element. The "root" pointer points to the topmost node in the tree. The left and right pointers recursively point to smaller "subtrees" on either side. A null pointer represents a binary tree with no elements -- the empty tree. The formal recursive definition is: a binary tree is either empty (represented by a null pointer), or is made of a single node, where the left and right pointers (recursive definition ahead) each point to a binary tree.

A binary search tree (BST) or "ordered binary tree" is a type of binary tree where the nodes are arranged in order: for each node, all elements in its left subtree are less to the node (<), and all the elements in its right subtree are greater than the node (>).

    5
   / \
  3   6 
 / \   \
1   4   9    

The tree shown above is a binary search tree -- the "root" node is a 5, and its left subtree nodes (1, 3, 4) are < 5, and its right subtree nodes (6, 9) are > 5. Recursively, each of the subtrees must also obey the binary search tree constraint: in the (1, 3, 4) subtree, the 3 is the root, the 1 < 3 and 4 > 3.

Watch out for the exact wording in the problems -- a "binary search tree" is different from a "binary tree".

Answer 4

To check wheather or not a given Binary Tree is Binary Search Tree here's is an Alternative Approach .

Traverse Tree In Inorder Fashion (i.e. Left Child --> Parent --> Right Child ) , Store Traversed Node Data in a temporary Variable lets say temp , just before storing into temp , Check wheather current Node's data is higher then previous one or not . Then just break it out , Tree is not Binary Search Tree else traverse untill end.

Below is an example with Java:

public static boolean isBinarySearchTree(Tree root)
{
    if(root==null)
        return false;

    isBinarySearchTree(root.left);
    if(tree.data<temp)
        return false;
    else
        temp=tree.data;
    isBinarySearchTree(root.right);
    return true;
}

Maintain temp variable outside

Answer 5

A binary tree is a tree whose children are never more than two. A binary search tree follows the invariant that the left child should have a smaller value than the root node's key, while the right child should have a greater value than the root node's key.

Answer 6

As everybody above has explained about the difference between binary tree and binary search tree, i am just adding how to test whether the given binary tree is binary search tree.

boolean b = new Sample().isBinarySearchTree(n1, Integer.MIN_VALUE, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
.......
.......
.......
public boolean isBinarySearchTree(TreeNode node, int min, int max)
{

    if(node == null)
    {
        return true;
    }

    boolean left = isBinarySearchTree(node.getLeft(), min, node.getValue());
    boolean right = isBinarySearchTree(node.getRight(), node.getValue(), max);

    return left && right && (node.getValue()<max) && (node.getValue()>=min);

}

Hope it will help you. Sorry if i am diverting from the topic as i felt it's worth mentioning this here.