Height of AVL Tree:

Theorem: The height of AVL tree with n elements (nodes) is O(log n).

Proof: Let an AVL tree with n nodes in it. Nh be the minimum number of nodes in an AVL tree of
height h.

In worst case, one sub tree may have height h-1 and other sub tree may have height h-2. And both these
sub trees are AVL trees. Since for every node in AVL tree the height of left and right sub trees differ
by at most 1.

Hence

Nh = Nh-1+Nh-2+1

Where Nh denotes the minimum number of nodes in an AVL tree of height h.

N0=0 N1=2

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We can also write it as
N > Nh = Nh-1+Nh-2+1

> 2Nh-2

> 4Nh-4
.
.
> 2iNh-2i

If value of h is even, let i = h/2-1

Then equation becomes

N > 2h/2-1N2

= N > 2(h-1)/2x4 (N2 = 4)

= O(log N)

If value of h is odd, let I = (h-1)/2 then equation becomes

N > 2(h-1)/2 N1
N > 2(h-1)/2 x 1
H = O(log N)

This proves that height of AVL tree is always O(log N). Hence search, insertion and deletion can
be carried out in logarithmic time.

Representation of AVL Tree

 The AVL tree follows the property of binary search tree. In fact AVL trees are
basically binary search trees with balance factors as -1, 0, or +1.
 After insertion of any node in an AVL tree if the balance factor of any node
becomes other than -1, 0, or +1 then it is said that AVL property is violated. Then
we have to restore the destroyed balance condition. The balance factor is denoted at
right top corner inside the node.

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  After insertion of a new node if balance condition gets destroyed, then the nodes on that
path(new node insertion point to root) needs to be readjusted. That means only the affected sub
tree is to be rebalanced.
 The rebalancing should be such that entire tree should satisfy AVL property.
In above given example-

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Insertion of a node.

There are four different cases when rebalancing is required after insertion of new node.

1. An insertion of new node into left sub tree of left child. (LL).
2. An insertion of new node into right sub tree of left child. (LR).
3. An insertion of new node into left sub tree of right child. (RL).
4. An insertion of new node into right sub tree of right child.(RR).

Some modifications done on AVL tree in order to rebalance it is called rotations of AVL tree

There are two types of rotations:

Single rotation Double rotation

Left-Left(LL rotation) Left-Right(LR rotation)

Right-Right(RR rotation) Right-Left(RL rotation)

Insertion Algorithm:
1. Insert a new node as new leaf just as an ordinary binary search tree.
2. Now trace the path from insertion point(new node inserted as leaf) towards root. For each node
‘n’ encountered, check if heights of left (n) and right (n) differ by at most 1.
a) If yes, move towards parent (n).
b) Otherwise restructure by doing either a single rotation or a double rotation.
Thus once we perform a rotation at node ‘n’ we do not require to perform any rotation at any
ancestor on ‘n’.

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When node ‘1’ gets inserted as a left child of node ‘C’ then AVL property gets destroyed i.e. node
A has balance factor +2.
The LL rotation has to be applied to rebalance the nodes.

2. RR rotation:

When node ‘4’ gets attached as right child of node ‘C’ then node ‘A’ gets unbalanced. The rotation
which needs to be applied is RR rotation as shown in fig.

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When node ‘3’ is attached as a right child of node ‘C’ then unbalancing occurs because of LR.
Hence LR rotation needs to be applied.

When node ‘2’ is attached as a left child of node ‘C’ then node ‘A’ gets unbalanced as its balance
factor becomes -2. Then RL rotation needs to be applied to rebalance the AVL tree.
Example:

Insert 1, 25, 28, 12 in the following AVL tree.

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Insert 1

To insert node ‘1’ we have to attach it as a left child of ‘2’. This will unbalance the tree as follows.
We will apply LL rotation to preserve AVL property of it.

Insert 25

We will attach 25 as a right child of 18. No balancing is required as entire tree preserves the AVL
property

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Insert 28
The node ‘28’ is attached as a right child of 25. RR rotation is required to rebalance.

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Insert 12

To rebalance the tree we have to apply LR rotation.

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Deletion:

Even after deletion of any particular node from AVL tree, the tree has to be restructured in order to
preserve AVL property. And thereby various rotations need to be applied.

Algorithm for deletion:

The deletion algorithm is more complex than insertion algorithm.

1. Search the node which is to be deleted.
2. a) If the node to be deleted is a leaf node then simply make it NULL to remove.
b) If the node to be deleted is not a leaf node i.e. node may have one or two children, then the
node must be swapped with its inorder successor. Once the node is swapped, we can remove
this node.
3. Now we have to traverse back up the path towards root, checking the
balance factor of every node along the path. If we encounter unbalancing
in some sub tree
then balance that sub tree using appropriate single or double
rotations. The deletion algorithm takes O(log n) time to delete any node.

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