Data Structures & Algorithms
AVL Tree
Height Balanced Trees
A height balanced tree is one in which the
difference in the height of the two subtrees
for any node is less than or equal to some
specified amount.
One type of height balanced tree is the
AVL tree named after its originators
(Adelson-Velskii & Landis).
In this tree the height difference may
be no more than 1.
AVL Tree
In the AVL trees, searches always stay
close to the theoretical minimum of
O(log n) and never degenerate to O(n).
The tradeoff for search efficiency is
increased time and complexity for
insertion and deletion from these trees
since each time the tree is changed it
may go out of balance and have to be
rebalanced.
Balance Factor
To implement an AVL tree each node
must contain a balance factor which
indicates its state of balance relative to
its subtrees.
If balance is determined by
• (height left tree) - (height right tree)
• then the balance factors in a balanced
tree can only have values of -1, 0, or
1.
AVL Tree : Examples
AVL tree with 1 to 4 nodes
-1
1 -1
0 0 -1
0
Insertion of a new Node
Adding a new node can change the balance factor of any
node by at most 1.
If a node currently has a balance factor of 0 it cannot go
out of balance.
If a node is left high (left subtree 1 level higher than
right) and the insertion is in its left subtree it may go out of
balance ( same applies to right/right).
If a node is left high and the insertion takes place in its
right subtree then
a) it cannot go out of balance
b) it cannot affect the balance of nodes above it since
the balance factor of higher nodes is determined by
the maximum height of this node which will not change.
Pivot Node
If the balance factor of each node passed
through on the path to an insertion is examined
then it should be possible to predict which nodes
could go out of balance and determine which of
these nodes is closest to the insertion point. This
node will be called the pivot node.
Restoring the balance of the pivot node
restores the balance of the whole sub-tree and
potentially all of the nodes that were affected
by the insertion.
• The mechanism of restoring balance to an AVL tree is
called rotation.
Tree Rotations
Correction of the LL or RR imbalance requires
only a single rotation about the pivot node but
the second case, LR or RL requires a prior
rotation about the root of the affected subtree
then a rotation about the pivot node.
A rotation consists of moving the child of the
high subtree into the position occupied by the
pivot, and moving the pivot down into the low
subtree.
LL (RR) Imbalance
To correct an LL imbalance the high
child replaces the pivot and the
pivot moves down to become the
root of this child’s right subtree.
The original right child of this
node becomes the left child of the
pivot (for RR exchange left and
right in the description).
LR (RL) Imbalance
To correct an LR imbalance a rotation is
first performed about the left child of
the pivot as if it were the pivot for a
RR imbalance.
This rotation effectively converts
the imbalance of the original pivot to a
LL which can now be corrected as above.
Restoring Balance – Tree Rotation
Single rotation
The new key is inserted in the subtree A.
The AVL-property is violated at x
• height of left(x) is h+2
• height of right(x) is h.
Single rotation
The new key is inserted in the subtree C.
The AVL-property is violated at x.
5 x
AVL Tree 5
3 y 8 C
3 8
1 4
1 4 B
A
0.8
Insert 0.8
3
1 5
4 8
0.8
After rotation
Double rotation
The new key is inserted in the subtree B1 or B2.
The AVL-property is violated at x.
x-y-z forms a zig-zag shape x
C
z
y B2
A B1
also called left-right rotate
Double rotation
The new key is inserted in the subtree B1 or B2.
The AVL-property is violated at x.
x
A z
B1 y
B2 C
also called right-left rotate
5 x
AVL Tree 5
C
y 3
8
3 8
1 4
A z
1 4
3.5
B
Insert 3.5
5
4 8
4
After Rotation
3
5 3
3.5 8 3.5
1 1
Deletion
• Delete a node x as in ordinary binary search tree.
Note that the last node deleted is a leaf.
• Then trace the path from the new leaf towards the
root.
• For each node x encountered, check if heights of
left(x) and right(x) differ by at most 1. If yes, proceed
to parent(x). If not, perform an appropriate rotation at
x.
• For deletion, after we perform a rotation at x, we may
have to perform a rotation at some ancestor of x.
Thus, we must continue to trace the path until we
reach the root.
Single rotations in deletion
In both figures, a node is deleted in subtree C, causing the
height to drop to h. The height of y is h+2. When the height
of subtree A is h+1, the height of B can be h or h+1. the same
single rotation can correct both cases.
Summary : AVL Tree
Balanced trees demonstrate superior
performance to binary search trees
due to log (n) tree depth
Rotations are used as a typical
mechanism to restore balance
Balanced trees are used in lookup-
intensive applications
