Create Balanced BST from Sorted List of Integers

Question

Given a unique, sorted list of integers, create a balanced binary-search tree represented as an array without using recursion.

For example:

func( [1,2,3,5,8,13,21] ) => [5,2,13,1,3,8,21]

Before we start, a hint: we can simplify this problem a ton so that we don't actually have to think about the input integers (or any comparable object for that matter!).

If we know the input list is sorted already, it's contents are irrelevant. We can simply think about it in terms of indices into the original array.

An internal representation of the input array then becomes:

func( [0,1,2,3,4,5,6] ) => [3,1,5,0,2,4,6]

This means rather than writing something that has to deal with comparable objects, we really only need to write a function which maps from the range [0,n) to the resulting array. Once we have the new order, we can simply apply the mapping back to the values in the input to create the return array.

Valid solutions must:

• Accept a zero-element array and return an empty array.
• Accept an integer array of length n and return an integer array
  • Of length between n and the next highest power of 2 minus 1. (e.g., for input size 13 return anywhere between 13 and 15).
  • Array which represents a BST where the root node is at position 0 and the height is equal to log(n) where 0 represents a missing node (or a null-like value if your language allows). Empty nodes, if present, must only exist at the end of the tree (e.g., [2,1,0])

The input integer array has the following guarantees:

• Values are 32-bit signed integers greater than zero.
• Values are unique.
• Values are in ascending order from position zero.
• Values may be sparse (i.e., not adjacent to each other).

The most terse code by ascii character count wins, but I'm also interested in seeing elegant solutions for any particular language.

Test cases

The outputs for simple arrays containing 1 to n for various n. As described above, the trailing 0s are optional.

[]
[1]
[2,1,0]
[2,1,3]
[3,2,4,1,0,0,0]
[4,2,5,1,3,0,0]
[4,2,6,1,3,5,0]
[4,2,6,1,3,5,7]
[5,3,7,2,4,6,8,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
[6,4,8,2,5,7,9,1,3,0,0,0,0,0,0]
[7,4,9,2,6,8,10,1,3,5,0,0,0,0,0]
[8,4,10,2,6,9,11,1,3,5,7,0,0,0,0]
[8,4,11,2,6,10,12,1,3,5,7,9,0,0,0]
[8,4,12,2,6,10,13,1,3,5,7,9,11,0,0]
[8,4,12,2,6,10,14,1,3,5,7,9,11,13,0]
[8,4,12,2,6,10,14,1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15]

Answer 1

Ruby, 143

s=ARGV.size;r,q=[],[[0,s]];s.times{b,e=q.shift;k=Math::log2(e-b).to_i-1;m=(e-b+2)>(3<<k)?b+(2<<k)-1:e-(1<<k);r<<ARGV[m];q<<[b,m]<<[m+1,e]};p r

It is a (loosely) compressed version of the following code which basically does a BFS on the tree.

def l(n)
    k = Math::log2(n).to_i-1
    if n+2 > (3<<k) then
        (2<<k)-1
    else
        n-(1<<k) 
    end
end

def bfs(tab)
  result = []
  queue = [[0,tab.size]]
  until queue.empty? do
    b,e = queue.shift
    m = b+l(e-b)
    result << tab[m]
    queue << [b,m] if b < m
    queue << [m+1,e] if m+1 < e
  end
  result
end

p bfs(ARGV)

Besides, because it's BFS, not DFS, a requirement of non-recursive solution is not significant, and it puts some languages at a disadvantage.

Edit: Fixed solution, thanks to @PeterTaylor for his comment!

Answer 2

Java, 252

Ok, here is my attempt. I've been playing around with bit operations and I came up with this direct way of calculating the index of an element in the BST from the index in the original array.

Compressed version

public int[]b(int[]a){int i,n=1,t;long x,I,s=a.length,p=s;int[]r=new int[(int)s];while((p>>=1)>0)n++;p=2*s-(1l<<n)+1;for(i=0;i<s;i++){x=(i<p)?(i+1):(p+2*(i-p)+1);t=1;while((x&1<<(t-1))==0)t++;I=(1<<(n-t));I|=((I-1)<<t&x)>>t;r[(int)I-1]=a[i];}return r;}

The long version follows below.

public static int[] makeBst(int[] array) {
  long size = array.length;
  int[] bst = new int[array.length];

  int nbits = 0;
  for (int i=0; i<32; i++) 
    if ((size & 1<<i)!=0) nbits=i+1;

  long padding = 2*size - (1l<<nbits) + 1;

  for (int i=0; i<size; i++) {
    long index2n = (i<padding)?(i+1):(padding + 2*(i-padding) + 1);

    int tail=1;
    while ((index2n & 1<<(tail-1))==0) tail++;
    long bstIndex = (1<<(nbits-tail));
    bstIndex = bstIndex | ((bstIndex-1)<<tail & index2n)>>tail;

    bst[(int)(bstIndex-1)] = array[i];
  }
 return bst;
}

Answer 3

def fn(input):
    import math
    n = len(input)
    if n == 0:
        return []
    h = int(math.floor(math.log(n, 2)))
    out = []
    last = (2**h) - 2**(h+1) + n

    def num_children(level, sibling, lr):
        if level == 0:
            return 0
        half = 2**(level-1)
        ll_base = sibling * 2**level + lr * (half)
        ll_children = max(0, min(last, ll_base + half - 1) - ll_base + 1)
        return 2**(level-1) - 1 + ll_children

    for level in range(h, -1, -1):
        for sibling in range(0, 2**(h-level)):
            if level == 0 and sibling > last:
                break
            if sibling == 0:
                last_sibling_val = num_children(level, sibling, 0)
            else:
                last_sibling_val += 2 + num_children(level, sibling - 1, 1) \
                    + num_children(level, sibling, 0)
            out.append(input[last_sibling_val])
    return out

Answer 4

Not quite sure if this fits exactly your requirement of empty nodes being at the end of the tree and it certainly won't win any prizes for brevity, but I think it's correct and it has test cases :)

public class BstArray {
    public static final int[] EMPTY = new int[] { };
    public static final int[] L1 = new int[] { 1 };
    public static final int[] L2 = new int[] { 1, 2 };
    public static final int[] L3 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3 };
    public static final int[] L4 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 5 };
    public static final int[] L5 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 };
    public static final int[] L6 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 };
    public static final int[] L7 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 };
    public static final int[] L8 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 35 };
    public static final int[] L9 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 35, 56 };
    public static final int[] L10 = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 35, 56, 91 };

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        for (int[] list : Arrays.asList(EMPTY, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, L7, L8, L9, L10)) {
            System.out.println(Arrays.toString(list) + " => " + Arrays.toString(bstListFromList(list)));
        }
    }

    private static int[] bstListFromList(int[] orig) {
        int[] bst = new int[nextHighestPowerOfTwo(orig.length + 1) - 1];

        if (orig.length == 0) {
            return bst;
        }

        LinkedList<int[]> queue = new LinkedList<int[]>();
        queue.push(orig);

        int counter = 0;
        while (!queue.isEmpty()) {
            int[] list = queue.pop();
            int len = list.length;

            if (len == 1) {
                bst[counter] = list[0];
            } else if (len == 2) {
                bst[counter] = list[1];
                queue.add(getSubArray(list, 0, 1));
                queue.add(new int[] { 0 });
            } else if (len == 3) {
                bst[counter] = list[1];
                queue.add(getSubArray(list, 0, 1));
                queue.add(getSubArray(list, 2, 1));
            } else {
                int divide = len / 2;
                bst[counter] = list[divide];
                queue.add(getSubArray(list, 0, divide));
                queue.add(getSubArray(list, divide + 1, len - (divide + 1)));
            }
            counter++;
        }

        return bst;
    }

    private static int nextHighestPowerOfTwo(int n) {
        n--;
        n |= n >> 1;
        n |= n >> 2;
        n |= n >> 4;
        n |= n >> 8;
        n |= n >> 16;
        n++;

        return n;
    }

    private static int[] getSubArray(int[] orig, int origStart, int length) {
        int[] list = new int[length];
        System.arraycopy(orig, origStart, list, 0, length);
        return list;
    }
}

Answer 5

Golfscript (99 89)

~]:b[]:^;{b}{{:|.,.2base,(2\?:&[-)&2/]{}$0=&(2/+:o[=]^\+:^;|o<.!{;}*|o)>.!{;}*}%:b}while^p

Basically a straight port of my Python solution, works in pretty much the same way.

Can probably be improved quite a bit with more "golfisms", already improved by 10 characters with @petertaylor's input :)

Answer 6

Java 192

Maps index in input to index in output

int[]b(int[]o){int s=o.length,p=0,u=s,i=0,y,r[]=new int[s],c[]=new int[s];while((u>>=1)>0)p++;for(int x:o){y=p;u=i;while(u%2>0){y--;u/=2;}r[(1<<y)-1+c[y]++]=x;i+=i>2*s-(1<<p+1)?2:1;}return r;}

Long version:

static int[] bfs(int[] o) {
  int rowCount = 32 - Integer.numberOfLeadingZeros(o.length); // log2
  int slotCount = (1<<rowCount) - 1; // pow(2,rowCount) - 1

  // number of empty slots at the end
  int emptySlots = slotCount - o.length;
  // where we start to be affected by these empty slots
  int startSkippingAbove = slotCount - 2 * emptySlots; // = 2 * o.length - slotCount

  int[] result = new int[o.length];
  int[] rowCounters = new int[rowCount]; // for each row, how many slots in that row are taken
  int i = 0; // index of where we would be if this was a complete tree (no trailing empty slots)
  for (int x : o) {
    // the row (depth) a slot is in is determined by the number of trailing 1s
    int rowIndex = rowCount - Integer.numberOfTrailingZeros(~i) - 1;
    int colIndex = rowCounters[rowIndex]++; // count where we are
    int rowStartIndex = (1 << rowIndex) - 1; // where this row starts in the result array

    result[rowStartIndex + colIndex] = x;

    i++;
    // next one has to jump into a slot that came available by not having slotCount values
    if (i > startSkippingAbove) i++;
  }

  return result;
}

Answer 7

Wolfram Mathematica 11, 175 Bytes

g[l_]:=(x[a_]:=Floor@Min[i-#/2,#]&@(i=Length[a]+1;2^Ceiling@Log2[i]/2);Join@@Table[Cases[l//.{{}->{},b__List:>(n[Take[b,#-1],b[[#]],Drop[b,#]]&@x[b])},_Integer,{m}],{m,x[l]}])

The function g[l] takes as an input a List (e.g l={1,2,3,4,...}) and returns a List of the desired form. It works as follows:

• x[a_]:=Floor@Min[i-#/2,#]&@(i=Length[a]+1;2^Ceiling@Log2[i]/2) takes a list and finds the root of the associated BST.
  • i=Length[a]+1 shortcut for the length of the list
  • 2^Ceiling@Log2[i]/2 upper bound on the value of the root
  • Min[i-#/2,#]&@(...) Minimum of the two argument where # stands for what is inside the (...)
• l//.{...} Apply repeatedly the replacement rules that follow to l
• {}->{} Nothing to do (this is the edge case to avoid an infinite loop)
• b__List:>(n[Take[b,#-1],b[[#]],Drop[b,#]]&@x[b]) Split a List into {{lesser}, root, {greater}}
• Cases[...,_Integer,{m}] Take all integers at level (depth) m
• Table[...,{m,1,x[l]}] For all m up to x[l] (which is more than necessary actually).

It can be tested by running

Table[g[Range[a]], {a, 0, 15}]//MatrixForm

This implementation does not include trailing zeroes.

Answer 8

Python (175 171)

Fairly condensed, still fairly readable;

def f(a):
 b=[a]
 while b:
  c,t=((s,2**(len(bin(len(s)))-3))for s in b if s),[]
  for x,y in c:
   o=min(len(x)-y+1,y/2)+(y-1)/2
   yield x[o]
   t+=[x[:o],x[o+1:]]
  b=t

It yields the result back, so you can either loop over it or (for display purposes) print it as a list;

>>> for i in range(1,17): print i-1,list(f(range(1,i)))
 0 []
 1 [1]
 2 [2, 1]
 3 [2, 1, 3]
 4 [3, 2, 4, 1]
 5 [4, 2, 5, 1, 3]
 6 [4, 2, 6, 1, 3, 5]
 7 [4, 2, 6, 1, 3, 5, 7]
 8 [5, 3, 7, 2, 4, 6, 8, 1]
 9 [6, 4, 8, 2, 5, 7, 9, 1, 3]
10 [7, 4, 9, 2, 6, 8, 10, 1, 3, 5]
11 [8, 4, 10, 2, 6, 9, 11, 1, 3, 5, 7]
12 [8, 4, 11, 2, 6, 10, 12, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
13 [8, 4, 12, 2, 6, 10, 13, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11]
14 [8, 4, 12, 2, 6, 10, 14, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13]
15 [8, 4, 12, 2, 6, 10, 14, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15]

Answer 9

Java

This is a direct calculation solution. I think it works, but it has one pragmatically innocuous side effect. The array it produces may be corrupt but not in any way that would affect searches. Instead of producing 0 (null) nodes, it will produce unreachable nodes, that is the nodes will already have been found earlier in the tree during the search. It works by mapping the indices array of a regular power of 2 size binary search tree array onto an irregularly sized binary search tree array. At least, I think it works.

import java.util.Arrays;

public class SortedArrayToBalanceBinarySearchTreeArray
{
    public static void main(String... args)
    {
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(binarySearchTree(19)));
    }

    public static int[] binarySearchTree(int m)
    {
        int n = powerOf2Ceiling(m + 1);
        int[] array = new int[n - 1];

        for (int k = 1, index = 1; k < n; k *= 2)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < k; ++i)
            {
                array[index - 1] = (int) (.5 + ((float) (m)) / (n - 1)
                        * (n / (2 * k) * (1 + 2 * index) - n));
                ++index;
            }
        }

        return array;
    }

    public static int powerOf2Ceiling(int n)
    {
        n--;
        n |= n >> 1;
        n |= n >> 2;
        n |= n >> 4;
        n |= n >> 8;
        n |= n >> 16;
        n++;

        return n;
    }

}

Here's a more condensed version (just the function and names paired down). It's still got the white space, but I'm not worried about winning. Also this version actually takes an array. The other one just took an int for highest index in the array.

public static int[] b(int m[])
{
    int n = m.length;
    n |= n >> 1;
    n |= n >> 2;
    n |= n >> 4;
    n |= n >> 8;
    n |= n >> 16;
    n++;

    int[] a = new int[n - 1];

    for (int k = 1, j = 1, i; k < n; k *= 2)
    {
        for (i = 0; i < k; ++i)
        {
            a[j - 1] = m[(int) (.5 + ((float) m.length) / (n - 1)
                    * (n / (2 * k) * (1 + 2 * j) - n)) - 1];
            ++j;
        }
    }

    return a;
}

Answer 10

GolfScript (79 77 70 chars)

Since the example in the question uses a function, I've made this a function. Removing the {}:f; to leave an expression which takes input on the stack and leaves the BST on the stack would save 5 chars.

{[.;][{{.!!{[.,.)[1]*{(\(@++}@(*1=/()\@~]}*}%.{0=}%\{1>~}%.}do][]*}:f;

Online demo (note: the app might take a bit of warming up: it timed out twice for me before running in 3 secs).

With whitespace to show the structure:

{
    # Input is an array: wrap it in an array for the working set
    [.;]
    [{
        # Stack: emitted-values working-set
        # where the working-set is essentially an array of subtrees
        # For each subtree in working-set...
        {
            # ...if it's not the empty array...
            .!!{
                # ...gather into an array...
                [
                    # Get the size of the subtree
                    .,
                    # OEIS A006165, offset by 1
                    .)[1]*{(\(@++}@(*1=
                    # Split into [left-subtree-plus-root right-subtree]
                    /
                    # Rearrange to root left-subtree right-subtree
                    # where left-subtree might be [] and right-subtree might not exist at all
                    ()\@~
                ]
            }*
        }%
        # Extract the leading element of each processed subtree: these will join the emitted-values
        .{0=}%
        # Create a new working-set of the 1, or 2 subtrees of each processed subtree
        \{1>~}%
        # Loop while the working-set is non-empty
        .
    }do]
    # Stack: [[emitted values at level 0][emitted values at level 1]...]
    # Flatten by joining with the empty array
    []*
}:f;

Answer 11

J, 52 bytes

t=:/:(#/:@{.(+:,>:@+:@i.@>:@#)^:(<.@(2&^.)@>:@#`1:))

function takes a sorted list and returns in binary tree order

notice that trees have identical shape but bottom level is shortened

• `1: start with 1
• <.@(2&^.)@>:@# iterate by floor of log2 ( length + 1 )
• +: , >:@+:@i.@>:@# loop : appends double of last vector with odd numbers 1,3 .. 2*length+1
• # /:@{. take only the required number of items and get their sort indices
• /: apply those sort indices to the given input

TIO

Answer 12

Python 2, 107 bytes

Golf of Joachim Isaksson's answer, Input is a singleton containing the list.

def f(a):
 for x in a:
	if x:w=len(x);y=1<<len(bin(w))-3;o=min(w-y+1,y/2)+~-y/2;yield x[o];a+=x[:o],x[o+1:]

Try it online!