Optimal Binary Search Tree

Rytas 12/12/04
 1.Preface
 OBST is one special kind of advanced tree.

 It focus on how to reduce the cost of the search of

the BST.

 It may not have the lowest height !

 It needs 3 tables to record probabilities, cost, and

root.
 2.Premise
 It has n keys (representation k1,k2,…,kn) in sorted order
(so that k1<k2<…<kn), and we wish to build a binary sear
ch tree from these keys. For each ki ,we have a probabilit
y pi that a search will be for ki.
 In contrast of, some searches may be for values not in k ,
i
and so we also have n+1 “dummy keys” d0,d1,…,dn repre
sentating not in ki.
 In particular, d represents all values less than k , and d
0 1 n
represents all values greater than kn, and for i=1,2,…,n-1,
the dummy key di represents all values between ki and k
i+1.
＊ The dummy keys are leaves (external nodes), and th
e data keys mean internal nodes.
 3.Formula & Prove
 The case of search are two situations, one i
s success, and the other, without saying, is f
ailure.

 We can get the first statement :

(i=1~n) ∑ pi + (i=0~n) ∑ qi = 1
Success Failure
 Because we have probabilities of searches for each key
and each dummy key, we can determine the expected c
ost of a search in a given binary search tree T. Let us as
sume that the actual cost of a search is the number of no
des examined, i.e., the depth of the node found by the se
arch in T,plus1. Then the expected cost of a search in T i
s : (The second statement)

E[ search cost in T]

= (i=1~n) ∑ pi ． (depthT(ki)+1)
+ (i=0~n) ∑ qi ． (depthT(di)+1)
=1 + (i=1~n) ∑ pi ． depthT(ki)
+ (i=0~n) ∑ qi ． depthT(di)
Where depthT denotes a node’s depth in the tree T.
 k2 k2

k1 k4 k1 k5

d0 d1
d0 d1 d5
k3 k5 k4

d2 d3 d4 d5 d4
k3
Figure (a)

i 0 1 2 3 4 5
d2 d3

pi 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.10 0.20

Figure (b)

qi 0.05 0.10 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.10

 By Figure (a), we can calculate the expected search cost node by node:

Cost=
Node# Depth probability cost
Probability *
k1 1 0.15 0.30 (Depth+1)

k2 0 0.10 0.10
k3 2 0.05 0.15
k4 1 0.10 0.20
K5 2 0.20 0.60
d0 2 0.05 0.15
d1 3 0.10 0.30
d2 3 0.05 0.20
d3 3 0.05 0.20
d4 3 0.05 0.20
d5 3 0.10 0.40
 And the total cost = (0.30 + 0.10 + 0.15 +
0.20 + 0.60 + 0.15 + 0.30 + 0.20 + 0.20 +
0.20 + 0.40 ) = 2.80
 So Figure (a) costs 2.80 ,on another, the
Figure (b) costs 2.75, and that tree is
really optimal.
 We can see the height of (b) is more than
(a) , and the key k5 has the greatest
search probability of any key, yet the root
of the OBST shown is k2.(The lowest
expected cost of any BST with k5 at the
root is 2.85)
Step1:The structure of an OBST
 To characterize the optimal substructure
of OBST, we start with an observation abo
ut subtrees. Consider any subtree of a BST.
It must contain keys in a contiguous rang
e ki,…,kj, for some 1≦i ≦j ≦n. In addition,
a subtree that contains keys ki,…,kj must
also have as its leaves the dummy keys di-
1 ,…,dj.
 We need to use the optimal substructure to sho
w that we can construct an optimal solution to th
e problem from optimal solutions to subproblems.
Given keys ki ,…, kj, one of these keys, say kr (I
≦r ≦j), will be the root of an optimal subtree co
ntaining these keys. The left subtree of the root k
r will contain the keys (ki ,…, kr-1) and the dummy
keys( di-1 ,…, dr-1), and the right subtree will conta
in the keys (kr+1 ,…, kj) and the dummy keys( dr ,
…, dj). As long as we examine all candidate root
s kr, where I ≦r ≦j, and we determine all optimal
binary search trees containing ki ,…, kr-1 and thos
e containing kr+1 ,…, kj , we are guaranteed that
we will find an OBST.
 There is one detail worth nothing about “empty”
subtrees. Suppose that in a subtree with keys k
i,...,kj, we select ki as the root. By the above argu
ment, ki ‘s left subtree contains the keys ki,…, ki-1.
It is natural to interpret this sequence as contai
ning no keys. It is easy to know that subtrees als
o contain dummy keys. The sequence has no ac
tual keys but does contain the single dummy key
di-1. Symmetrically, if we select kj as the root, the
n kj‘s right subtree contains the keys, kj+1 …,kj; th
is right subtree contains no actual keys, but it do
es contain the dummy key dj.
 Step2: A recursive solution
 We are ready to define the value of an optimal s
olution recursively. We pick our subproblem dom
ain as finding an OBST containing the keys ki,…,
kj, where i≧1, j ≦n, and j ≧ i-1. (It is when j=i-1
that ther are no actual keys; we have just the du
mmy key di-1.)
 Let us define e[i,j] as the expected cost of searc
hing an OBST containing the keys ki,…, kj. Ultim
ately, we wish to compute e[1,n].
 The easy case occurs when j=i-1. Then w
e have just the dummy key di-1. The expect
ed search cost is e[i,i-1]= qi-1.
 When j≧1, we need to select a root k from
r
among ki,…,kj and then make an OBST wit
h keys ki,…,kr-1 its left subtree and an OBS
T with keys kr+1,…,kj its right subtree. By th
e time, what happens to the expected sear
ch cost of a subtree when it becomes a su
btree of a node? The answer is that the de
pth of each node in the subtree increases
by 1.
 By the second statement, the excepted sear
ch cost of this subtree increases by the sum
of all the probabilities in the subtree. For a s
ubtree with keys ki,…,kj let us denote this su
m of probabilities as

w (i , j) = (l=i~j) ∑ pl + (l=i-1~j) ∑ ql

Thus, if kr is the root of an optimal subtree con

taining keys ki,…,kj, we have
E[i,j]= pr + (e[i,r-1]+w(i,r-1))+(e[r+1,j]+w(r+1,j))
Nothing that w (i , j) = w(i,r-1)+ pr +w(r+1,j)
 We rewrite e[i,j] as
e[i,j]= e[i,r-1] + e[r+1,j]+w(i,j)

The recursive equation as above assumes that

we know which node kr to use as the root. We ch
oose the root that gives the lowest expected sea
rch cost, giving us our final recursive formulation:

E[i,j]=
case1: if i≦j,i≦r≦j
E[i,j]=min{e[i,r-1]+e[r+1,j]+w(i,j)}
case2: if j=i-1; E[i,j]= qi-1
 The e[i,j] values give the expected search
costs in OBST. To help us keep track of th
e structure of OBST, we define root[i,j], for
1≦i≦j≦n, to be the index r for which kr is
the root of an OBST containing keys ki,…,
kj.
 Step3: Computing the expected
search cost of an OBST
 We store the e[i.j] values in a table e[1..n+1, 0..n].
The first index needs to run to n+1rather than n be
cause in order to have a subtree containing only th
e dummy key dn, we will need to compute and stor
e e[n+1,n]. The second index needs to start from 0
because in order to have a subtree containing only
the dummy key d0, we will need to compute and st
ore e[1,0]. We will use only the entries e[i,j] for whi
ch j≧i-1. we also use a table root[i,j], for recording
the root of the subtree containing keys k i,…, kj. Thi
s table uses only the entries for which 1 ≦i ≦j ≦n.
 We will need one other table for efficiency.
Rather than compute the value of w(i,j) fro
m scratch every time we are computing e[i,
j] ----- we tore these values in a table w[1..
n+1,0..n]. For the base case, we compute
w[i,i-1] = qi-1 for 1≦i ≦n.
 For j≧I, we compute :
w[i,j]=w[i,j-1]+pi+qi
 OPTIMAL—BST(p,q,n)
 For i 1 to n+1
do e[i,i-1] qi-1
do w[i,i-1] qi-1
For l 1 to n
do for i 1 to n-l +1
do j i+l-1
e[i,j] ∞
w[i,j] w[i,j-1]+pj+qj
For r i to j
do t e[i,r-1]+e[r+1,j]+w[i,j]
if t<e[i,j]
then e[i,j] t
root [i,j] r
Return e and root
 e w
5 1
5 1
4 2.75 2
4 1.00 2
3 1.75 2.00 3 0.70 0.80
1.25 3 3
2 1.20 1.30 4 0.55
0.90 5 2 0.50 0.60 4
1 0.70 0.60 0.90
0.45 0.35
0.25 0.50 1 0.30 0.50 5
0 0.45 0.40 0.30 6
0
0.30 0.25 0.15 0.20 0.35 6
0.05 0.10 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.10
0.05 0.10 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.10

root
5 1
4 2 2
3 2 4 3
2 2 2 5 4
1 2 4 5 5
1
1 2 3 4 5

The tables e[i,j], w[i,j], and root [i,j]computed by Optimal-BST

 Advanced Proof-1
 All keys (including data keys and dummy keys) of t
he weight sum (probability weight) and that can ge
t the formula:
n n

 ki +  di
i 1 i 0
 Because the probability of ki is pi and di is qi;
 Then rewrite that

n n

  pi
i 1
+  qi =1 ……..formula (1)
i 0
 Advanced Proof-2
 We first focus on the probability weight ; but not in
all, just for some part of the full tree. That means w
e have ki, …, kj data, and 1≦i ≦j ≦n, and ensur
es that ki, …, kj is just one part of the full tree. By
the time, we can rewrite formula (1) into
j j

 w[i,j] = 
l i
Pl + 
l i 1
Ql

 For recursive structure, maybe we can get another

formula for w[i,j]=w[i,j-1]+Pj+Qj
 By this , we can struct the weight table.
 Advanced Proof-3
 Finally,we want to discuss our topic, without
saying, the cost, which is expected to be the
optimal one.
 Then define the recursive structure’s cost e[i,
j],
which means ki, …, kj, 1≦i ≦j ≦n, cost.
 And we can divide into root, leftsubtree, a
nd rightsubtree.
 Advanced Proof-4
 The final cost formula:
 E[i,j] = Pr + e[i,r-1] + w[i,r-1] + e[r+1,j] +
w[r+1,j]
 Nothing that : Pr + w[i,r-1] + w[r+1,j] = w[i,j]
 So, E[i,j] = (e[i,r-1] + e[r+1,j]) + w[i,j]

Get the minimal set

 And we use it to struct the cost table!
 P.S. Neither weight nor cost calculating, if ki,…, kj,
but j=i-1, it means that the sequence have no actu
al key, but a dummy key.
 Exercise
i 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

pi 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.02 0.10 0.12 0.14

qi 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05