Self-balancing Trees

Definition

A self-balancing tree is a type of tree data structure in which the balance or height of the tree is automatically adjusted during insertions and deletions to ensure that the tree remains reasonably balanced.

Motivation

The motivation behind self-balancing trees is to overcome the potential performance issues that can occur in standard trees (including binary and non-binary trees) due to unbalanced structures. In many tree-based data structures, the height of the tree significantly impacts the efficiency of operations like search, insertion, and deletion. Self-balancing trees are designed to address this challenge and provide consistent, efficient performance in various scenarios.

Variations

• Binary search tree family

  • AVL Tree

  • Red-Black Tree

• B-Tree family

  • B-Tree (B tree, not B minus tree)

  • B+ Tree

  • B* Tree