235. Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Search Tree

Description

Given a binary search tree (BST), find the lowest common ancestor (LCA) node of two given nodes in the BST.

According to the definition of LCA on Wikipedia: “The lowest common ancestor is defined between two nodes p and q as the lowest node in T that has both p and q as descendants (where we allow a node to be a descendant of itself).”

Example 1:

Input: root = [6,2,8,0,4,7,9,null,null,3,5], p = 2, q = 8
Output: 6
Explanation: The LCA of nodes 2 and 8 is 6.

Example 2:

Input: root = [6,2,8,0,4,7,9,null,null,3,5], p = 2, q = 4
Output: 2
Explanation: The LCA of nodes 2 and 4 is 2, since a node can be a descendant of itself according to the LCA definition.

Example 3:

Input: root = [2,1], p = 2, q = 1
Output: 2

Constraints:

The number of nodes in the tree is in the range [2, 10⁵].
-10⁹ <= Node.val <= 10⁹
All Node.val are unique.
p != q
p and q will exist in the BST.

Solutions

Solution 1

Python3JavaC++GoTypeScript

# Definition for a binary tree node.
# class TreeNode:
#     def __init__(self, x):
#         self.val = x
#         self.left = None
#         self.right = None


class Solution:
    def lowestCommonAncestor(
        self, root: 'TreeNode', p: 'TreeNode', q: 'TreeNode'
    ) -> 'TreeNode':
        while 1:
            if root.val < min(p.val, q.val):
                root = root.right
            elif root.val > max(p.val, q.val):
                root = root.left
            else:
                return root

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode left;
 *     TreeNode right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) { val = x; }
 * }
 */

class Solution {
    public TreeNode lowestCommonAncestor(TreeNode root, TreeNode p, TreeNode q) {
        while (true) {
            if (root.val < Math.min(p.val, q.val)) {
                root = root.right;
            } else if (root.val > Math.max(p.val, q.val)) {
                root = root.left;
            } else {
                return root;
            }
        }
    }
}

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */

class Solution {
public:
    TreeNode* lowestCommonAncestor(TreeNode* root, TreeNode* p, TreeNode* q) {
        while (1) {
            if (root->val < min(p->val, q->val)) {
                root = root->right;
            } else if (root->val > max(p->val, q->val)) {
                root = root->left;
            } else {
                return root;
            }
        }
    }
};

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * type TreeNode struct {
 *     Val   int
 *     Left  *TreeNode
 *     Right *TreeNode
 * }
 */

func lowestCommonAncestor(root, p, q *TreeNode) *TreeNode {
    for {
        if root.Val < p.Val && root.Val < q.Val {
            root = root.Right
        } else if root.Val > p.Val && root.Val > q.Val {
            root = root.Left
        } else {
            return root
        }
    }
}

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * class TreeNode {
 *     val: number
 *     left: TreeNode | null
 *     right: TreeNode | null
 *     constructor(val?: number, left?: TreeNode | null, right?: TreeNode | null) {
 *         this.val = (val===undefined ? 0 : val)
 *         this.left = (left===undefined ? null : left)
 *         this.right = (right===undefined ? null : right)
 *     }
 * }
 */

function lowestCommonAncestor(
    root: TreeNode | null,
    p: TreeNode | null,
    q: TreeNode | null,
): TreeNode | null {
    while (root) {
        if (root.val > p.val && root.val > q.val) {
            root = root.left;
        } else if (root.val < p.val && root.val < q.val) {
            root = root.right;
        } else {
            return root;
        }
    }
}

Solution 2