Suppose we have one binary search tree. We have to find the minimum element in binary search tree. So if the BST is like below −
The minimum element will be 1.
As we know that the left subtree always holds the smaller elements. So if we traverse through the left subtree again and again until left is null, we can find the smallest element.
#include<iostream> using namespace std; class node{ public: node *left; int val; node *right; }; node *bst = NULL; node *getNode(){ node *newNode; newNode = new node; return newNode; } void insert(node **root, int key){ node *newNode; newNode = getNode(); newNode->val = key; newNode->left = NULL; newNode->right = NULL; if(*root == NULL){ *root = newNode; return; } else { if(key < (*root)->val) insert(&((*root)->left), key); else insert(&((*root)->right), key); } } int minElement(){ node* current = bst; while (current->left != NULL) { current = current->left; } return(current->val); } main(){ int item[] = {3, 2, 1, 6, 5, 8}; int n = sizeof(item)/sizeof(item[0]); int i; for(i = 0; i<8; i++){ insert(&bst, item[i]); } cout << "Minimum element is: " << minElement(); }
Minimum element is: 1