Definition:Binary Tree

Definition

A binary tree is a rooted tree which has at most two branches at any node.

That is, every node in a binary tree has (apart from the root) degree of either $1$ (for the leaf nodes) or $3$ (one for the parent, two for the children).

Branches

The branches at any particular node of a binary tree are frequently called the left-hand branch and the right-hand branch, and a distinction is made between them.

Applications

Binary trees are frequently used in computer science to store data in an efficiently searchable fashion.

Sources

• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): binary tree
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): binary tree

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• 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): binary tree