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Data Structure



                          need to compare the characteristics of the data structures before choosing the right data structure. A tree
                          is a hierarchical data structure suitable for representing hierarchical information. The tree data structure
                          has the characteristics of quick search, quick inserts, and quick deletes.
                          10.1   Trees
                          A tree is a very  important data structure as it is useful  in many  applications.  A  tree structure  is a
                          method of representing the hierarchical nature of a structure in a graphical form. It is termed as "tree
                          structure" since its representation resembles a  tree.  However,  the chart of a tree is normally upside
                          down compared to an actual tree, with the root at the top and the leaves at the bottom.
                          The figure 10.1 depicts a tree structure, which represents the hierarchical organization of books.

                                                        Figure 10.1: Tree Structure of Books


























                          In the hierarchical organization of books shown in figure 10.1, Books is the root of the tree. Books can
                          be classified as Fiction and Non-fiction. Non-fiction books can be further classified as Realistic and
                          Non-realistic, which are the leaves of the tree. Thus, it forms a complete tree structure.

                          Trees are primarily treated as data structures rather than as data types.
                          A tree is a widely-used data structure  that depicts  a hierarchical  tree structures with a set of linked
                          nodes. The elements of data structure in a tree are arranged in a non-linear fashion i.e., they use two
                          dimensional representations. Thus, trees are known as non-linear data structures. This data structure is
                          more efficient in inserting additional data, deleting unnecessary data, and searching new data.


                                      Genealogies and organizational charts are the most familiar applications of trees.
                                      Few other applications of tree data structures are as follows:
                                      1.  To analyze electrical circuits
                                      2.  To represent the structure of mathematical formulas
                                      3.  To organize information in database systems

                                      4.  To represent syntactic structure of source programs in compilers










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