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Improved bounds for the expected behaviour of AVL trees

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Abstract

In this paper we improve previous bounds on expected measures of AVL trees by using fringe analysis. A new way of handling larger tree collections that are not closed is presented. An inherent difficulty posed by the transformations necessary to keep the AVL tree balanced makes its analysis difficult when using fringe analysis methods. We derive a technique to cope with this difficulty obtaining the exact solution for fringe parameters even when unknown probabilities are involved. We show that the probability of a rotation in an insertion is between 0.37 and 0.73 (and seems to be less than 0.56), that the fraction of balanced nodes is between 0.56 and 0.78, and that the expected number of comparisons in a search seems to be at most 12% more than in the complete balanced tree.

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The work of the first author was also supported by the Institute for Computer Research of the University of Waterloo, the second author by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Grant No. A-3353, and the third by a Brazilian Coordenação do Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior Contract No. 4799/77 and by the University of Waterloo.

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Baeza-Yates, R., Gonnet, G.H. & Ziviani, N. Improved bounds for the expected behaviour of AVL trees. BIT 32, 297–315 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01994883

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01994883

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