Red-black tree
| Red–black tree | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | tree | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Invented | 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Invented by | Rudolf Bayer | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Time complexity in big O notation | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Algorithm | Average | Worst Case | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space | O(n) | O(n) | |
| Search | O(log n) | O(log n) | |
| Insert | O(log n) | O(log n) | |
| Delete | O(log n) | O(log n) |
A red–black tree is a kind of self-balancing binary search tree. Each node of the binary tree has an extra bit, and that bit is often interpreted as the color (red or black) of the node. These color bits are used to ensure the tree remains approximately balanced during insertions and deletions.
Balance is preserved by painting each node of the tree with one of two colors (typically called 'red' and 'black') in a way that satisfies certain properties, which collectively constrain how unbalanced the tree can become in the worst case. When the tree is modified, the new tree is subsequently rearranged and repainted to restore the coloring properties. The properties are designed in such a way that this rearranging and recoloring can be performed efficiently.
The balancing of the tree is not perfect, but it is good enough to allow it to guarantee searching in O(log n) time, where n is the total number of elements in the tree. The insertion and deletion operations, along with the tree rearrangement and recoloring, are also performed in O(log n) time.
Tracking the color of each node requires only 1 bit of information per node because there are only two colors. The tree does not contain any other data specific to its being a red–black tree so its memory footprint is almost identical to a classic (uncolored) binary search tree. In many cases, the additional bit of information can be stored at no additional memory cost.
In 1972, Rudolf Bayer invented a data structure that was a special order-4 case of a B-tree. These trees maintained all paths from root to leaf with the same number of nodes, creating perfectly balanced trees. However, they were not binary search trees. Bayer called them a "symmetric binary B-tree" in his paper and later they became popular as 2-3-4 trees or just 2-4 trees.
In a 1978 paper, "A Dichromatic Framework for Balanced Trees",Leonidas J. Guibas and Robert Sedgewick derived the red-black tree from the symmetric binary B-tree. The color "red" was chosen because it was the best-looking color produced by the color laser printer available to the authors while working at Xerox PARC. Another response from Guibas states that it was because of the red and black pens available to them to draw the trees.
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