Red-Black Trees 4/10/2002 11:1

AVL Tree Definition

AVL trees are
AVL Trees
4
balanced. 44
2 3
An AVL Tree is a 17 78

v
6
binary search tree 1 2 1
32 50 88
3 8 such that for every
z 1 1
4 internal node v of T, 48 62
the heights of the
children of v can
differ by at most 1. An example of an AVL tree where the
heights are shown next to the nodes:

AVL Trees 1 AVL Trees 2

n(2) 3

4 n(1)

Height of an AVL Tree Insertion in an AVL Tree

Insertion is as in a binary search tree
Fact: The height of an AVL tree storing n keys is O(log n).
Always done by expanding an external node.
Proof: Let us bound n(h): the minimum number of internal
nodes of an AVL tree of height h. Example: 44 44

We easily see that n(1) = 1 and n(2) = 2 c=z

17 78 17 78
For n > 2, an AVL tree of height h contains the root node, a=y
one AVL subtree of height n-1 and another of height n-2.
32 50 88 32 50 88
That is, n(h) = 1 + n(h-1) + n(h-2)
Knowing n(h-1) > n(h-2), we get n(h) > 2n(h-2). So 48 62 48 62
b=x
n(h) > 2n(h-2), n(h) > 4n(h-4), n(h) > 8n(n-6), (by induction),
n(h) > 2in(h-2i) 54
Solving the base case we get: n(h) > 2 h/2-1 w

Taking logarithms: h < 2log n(h) +2 before insertion after insertion

Thus the height of an AVL tree is O(log n)
AVL Trees 3 AVL Trees 4

Insertion Example, continued

Trinode Restructuring 5
44
let (a,b,c) be an inorder listing of x, y, z 2
z 64
17 78 7
perform the rotations needed to make b the topmost node of 1 3
2 y 1
the three 32 1 50 4 88
2 x
(other two cases 1
a=z case 2: double rotation 48 3 62
a=z are symmetrical) 1 5
(a right rotation about c, 54 T3
b=y
c=y then a left rotation about a) unbalanced... T2
T0 T0
T0 4
T1 44
c=x b=x 4 x
2 3
T3
T1
b=y b=x
17
2 y 62
z6
1 2 2
T1 T2
T2 T3 32
1
1 50 3 5
78 7
1 1
a=z c=x a=z c=y
...balanced 48 54 88

case 1: single rotation T2

(a left rotation about a) T0 T1 T2 T3 T0 T1 T2 T3
T0 T1 T3
AVL Trees 5 AVL Trees 6
Red-Black Trees 4/10/2002 11:1

Restructuring Restructuring
(as Single Rotations) (as Double Rotations)
Single Rotations: double rotations:

a=z single rotation b=y a=z double rotation b=x

b=y a=z c=x c=y a=z c=y
c=x b=x
T0 T3 T0 T2
T1 T3 T0 T1 T2 T2 T3 T0 T1 T3
T2 T1

c=z double rotation b=x

c=z single rotation b=y a=y a=y c=z
b=y a=x c=z b=x
a=x
T0 T2
T3 T3 T3 T2 T3 T1 T0
T0 T2 T2 T1 T0 T1
T1
AVL Trees 7 AVL Trees 8

Removal in an AVL Tree Rebalancing after a Removal

Removal begins as in a binary search tree, which Let z be the first unbalanced node encountered while travelling
means the node removed will become an empty up the tree from w. Also, let y be the child of z with the larger
height, and let x be the child of y with the larger height.
external node. Its parent, w, may cause an imbalance.
We perform restructure(x) to restore balance at z.
Example: 44 44 As this restructuring may upset the balance of another node
higher in the tree, we must continue checking for balance until
17 62 17 62 the root of T is reached
62
a=z 44

32 50 78 50 78 44 78
w 17 62 b=y

48 54 88 48 54 88 17 50 88
50 78 c=x

48 54
48 54 88
before deletion of 32 after deletion

AVL Trees 9 AVL Trees 10

Running Times for

AVL Trees
a single restructure is O(1)
using a linked-structure binary tree
find is O(log n)
height of tree is O(log n), no restructures needed
insert is O(log n)
initial find is O(log n)
Restructuring up the tree, maintaining heights is O(log n)
remove is O(log n)
initial find is O(log n)
Restructuring up the tree, maintaining heights is O(log n)

AVL Trees 11