\chapter{Tree queries}

\index{tree query}

This chapter discusses techniques for
processing queries related
to subtrees and paths of a rooted tree.
For example, such queries are:

\begin{itemize}
\item what is the $k$th ancestor of a node?
\item what is the sum of values in the subtree of a node?
\item what is the sum of values in a path between two nodes?
\item what is the lowest common ancestor of two nodes?
\end{itemize}

\section{Finding ancestors}

\index{ancestor}

The $k$th \key{ancestor} of a node $x$ in a rooted tree
is the node that we will reach if we move $k$
levels up from $x$.
Let $f(x,k)$ denote the $k$th ancestor of $x$.
For example, in the following tree, $f(2,1)=1$ and $f(8,2)=4$.

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (2,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-2,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (0,1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (2,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-1,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (-1,-3) {$8$};
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (7) -- (8);

\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (8) edge [bend left] (3);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (2) edge [bend right] (1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

An easy way to calculate the value of $f(x,k)$
is to perform a sequence of $k$ moves in the tree.
However, the time complexity of this method
is $O(n)$, because the tree may contain
a chain of $O(n)$ nodes.

Fortunately, it turns out that
using a technique similar to that
used in Chapter 16.3, any value of $f(x,k)$
can be efficiently calculated in $O(\log k)$ time
after preprocessing.
The idea is to precalculate all values $f(x,k)$
where $k$ is a power of two.
For example, the values for the above tree
are as follows:

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{r|rrrrrrrrr}
$x$ & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 \\
\hline
$f(x,1)$ & 0 & 1 & 4 & 1 & 1 & 2 & 4 & 7 \\
$f(x,2)$ & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 1 & 4 \\
$f(x,4)$ & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
$\cdots$ \\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

The value $0$ means that the $k$th ancestor
of a node does not exist.

The preprocessing takes $O(n \log n)$ time,
because each node can have at most $n$ ancestors.
After this, any value of $f(x,k)$ can be calculated
in $O(\log k)$ time by representing $k$
as a sum where each term is a power of two.

\section{Subtrees and paths}

\index{node array}

A \key{node array}\footnote{A similar idea is sometimes called the \key{Euler tour technique} \cite{tar84}.} contains the nodes of a rooted tree
in the order in which a depth-first search
from the root node visits them.
For example, in the tree
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (-3,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-1,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (1,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (3,1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-0.5,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (1,-1) {$8$};
\node[draw, circle] (9) at (2.5,-1) {$9$};

\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (8);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (9);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
a depth-first search proceeds as follows:
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (-3,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-1,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (1,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (3,1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-0.5,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (1,-1) {$8$};
\node[draw, circle] (9) at (2.5,-1) {$9$};

\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (8);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (9);


\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (1) edge [bend right=15] (2);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (2) edge [bend right=15] (6);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (6) edge [bend right=15] (2);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (2) edge [bend right=15] (1);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (1) edge [bend right=15] (3);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (3) edge [bend right=15] (1);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (1) edge [bend right=15] (4);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (4) edge [bend right=15] (7);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (7) edge [bend right=15] (4);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (4) edge [bend right=15] (8);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (8) edge [bend right=15] (4);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (4) edge [bend right=15] (9);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (9) edge [bend right=15] (4);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (4) edge [bend right=15] (1);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (1) edge [bend right=15] (5);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (5) edge [bend right=15] (1);

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
Hence, the corresponding node array is as follows:
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\draw (0,0) grid (9,1);

\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$6$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$7$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$8$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$9$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$5$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,1.4) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.4) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.4) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,1.4) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,1.4) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,1.4) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,1.4) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,1.4) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,1.4) {$9$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

\subsubsection{Subtree queries}

Each subtree of a tree corresponds to a subarray
in the node array,
where the first element is the root node.
For example, the following subarray contains the
nodes in the subtree of node $4$:
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\fill[color=lightgray] (4,0) rectangle (8,1);
\draw (0,0) grid (9,1);

\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$6$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$7$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$8$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$9$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$5$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,1.4) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.4) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.4) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,1.4) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,1.4) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,1.4) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,1.4) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,1.4) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,1.4) {$9$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
Using this fact, we can efficiently process queries
that are related to subtrees of a tree.
As an example, consider a problem where each node
is assigned a value, and our task is to support
the following queries:
\begin{itemize}
\item update the value of a node
\item calculate the sum of values in the subtree of a node
\end{itemize}

Consider the following tree where the blue numbers
are the values of the nodes.
For example, the sum of the subtree of node $4$
is $3+4+3+1=11$.

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (-3,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-1,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (1,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (3,1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-0.5,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (1,-1) {$8$};
\node[draw, circle] (9) at (2.5,-1) {$9$};

\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (8);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (9);

\node[color=blue] at (0,3+0.65) {2};
\node[color=blue] at (-3-0.65,1) {3};
\node[color=blue] at (-1-0.65,1) {5};
\node[color=blue] at (1+0.65,1) {3};
\node[color=blue] at (3+0.65,1) {1};
\node[color=blue] at (-3,-1-0.65) {4};
\node[color=blue] at (-0.5,-1-0.65) {4};
\node[color=blue] at (1,-1-0.65) {3};
\node[color=blue] at (2.5,-1-0.65) {1};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

The idea is to construct a node array that contains
three values for each node: (1) the identifier of the node,
(2) the size of the subtree, and (3) the value of the node.
For example, the array for the above tree is as follows:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\draw (0,1) grid (9,-2);

\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$6$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$7$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$8$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$9$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$5$};

\node at (0.5,-0.5) {$9$};
\node at (1.5,-0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (3.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (4.5,-0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (6.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (7.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (8.5,-0.5) {$1$};

\node at (0.5,-1.5) {$2$};
\node at (1.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (2.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (3.5,-1.5) {$5$};
\node at (4.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (5.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (6.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (7.5,-1.5) {$1$};
\node at (8.5,-1.5) {$1$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,1.4) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.4) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.4) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,1.4) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,1.4) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,1.4) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,1.4) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,1.4) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,1.4) {$9$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

Using this array, we can calculate the sum of values
in any subtree by first finding out the size of the subtree
and then the values of the corresponding nodes.
For example, the values in the subtree of node $4$
can be found as follows:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\fill[color=lightgray] (4,1) rectangle (5,0);
\fill[color=lightgray] (4,0) rectangle (5,-1);
\fill[color=lightgray] (4,-1) rectangle (8,-2);
\draw (0,1) grid (9,-2);

\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$6$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$7$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$8$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$9$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$5$};

\node at (0.5,-0.5) {$9$};
\node at (1.5,-0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (3.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (4.5,-0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (6.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (7.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (8.5,-0.5) {$1$};

\node at (0.5,-1.5) {$2$};
\node at (1.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (2.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (3.5,-1.5) {$5$};
\node at (4.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (5.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (6.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (7.5,-1.5) {$1$};
\node at (8.5,-1.5) {$1$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,1.4) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.4) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.4) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,1.4) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,1.4) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,1.4) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,1.4) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,1.4) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,1.4) {$9$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

To answer the queries efficiently,
it suffices to store the values of the
nodes in a binary indexed tree or segment tree.
After this, we can both update a value
and calculate the sum of values in $O(\log n)$ time.

\subsubsection{Path queries}

Using a node array, we can also efficiently
calculate sums of values on
paths from the root node to any other
node in the tree.
Let us next consider a problem where our task
is to support the following queries:
\begin{itemize}
\item change the value of a node
\item calculate the sum of values on a path from
the root to a node
\end{itemize}

For example, in the following tree,
the sum of values from the root node to node 7 is
$4+5+5=14$:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (-3,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-1,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (1,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (3,1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-0.5,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (1,-1) {$8$};
\node[draw, circle] (9) at (2.5,-1) {$9$};

\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (8);
\path[draw,thick,-] (4) -- (9);

\node[color=blue] at (0,3+0.65) {4};
\node[color=blue] at (-3-0.65,1) {5};
\node[color=blue] at (-1-0.65,1) {3};
\node[color=blue] at (1+0.65,1) {5};
\node[color=blue] at (3+0.65,1) {2};
\node[color=blue] at (-3,-1-0.65) {3};
\node[color=blue] at (-0.5,-1-0.65) {5};
\node[color=blue] at (1,-1-0.65) {3};
\node[color=blue] at (2.5,-1-0.65) {1};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

We can solve this problem in a similar way as before,
but now each value in the last row of the array is the sum of values
on a path from the root to the node.
For example, the following array corresponds to the above tree:
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\draw (0,1) grid (9,-2);

\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$6$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$7$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$8$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$9$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$5$};

\node at (0.5,-0.5) {$9$};
\node at (1.5,-0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (3.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (4.5,-0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (6.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (7.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (8.5,-0.5) {$1$};

\node at (0.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (1.5,-1.5) {$9$};
\node at (2.5,-1.5) {$12$};
\node at (3.5,-1.5) {$7$};
\node at (4.5,-1.5) {$9$};
\node at (5.5,-1.5) {$14$};
\node at (6.5,-1.5) {$12$};
\node at (7.5,-1.5) {$10$};
\node at (8.5,-1.5) {$6$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,1.4) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.4) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.4) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,1.4) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,1.4) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,1.4) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,1.4) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,1.4) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,1.4) {$9$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

When the value of a node increases by $x$,
the sums of all nodes in its subtree increase by $x$.
For example, if the value of node 4 increases by 1,
the node array changes as follows:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\fill[color=lightgray] (4,-1) rectangle (8,-2);
\draw (0,1) grid (9,-2);

\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$6$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$7$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$8$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$9$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$5$};

\node at (0.5,-0.5) {$9$};
\node at (1.5,-0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (3.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (4.5,-0.5) {$4$};
\node at (5.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (6.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (7.5,-0.5) {$1$};
\node at (8.5,-0.5) {$1$};

\node at (0.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (1.5,-1.5) {$9$};
\node at (2.5,-1.5) {$12$};
\node at (3.5,-1.5) {$7$};
\node at (4.5,-1.5) {$10$};
\node at (5.5,-1.5) {$15$};
\node at (6.5,-1.5) {$13$};
\node at (7.5,-1.5) {$11$};
\node at (8.5,-1.5) {$6$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,1.4) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.4) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.4) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,1.4) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,1.4) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,1.4) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,1.4) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,1.4) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,1.4) {$9$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

Thus, to support both the operations,
we should be able to increase all values
in a range and retrieve a single value.
This can be done in $O(\log n)$ time
using a binary indexed tree
or segment tree (see Chapter 9.4).

\section{Lowest common ancestor}

\index{lowest common ancestor}

The \key{lowest common ancestor}
of two nodes in the tree is the lowest node
whose subtree contains both the nodes.
A typical problem is to efficiently process
queries that ask to find the lowest
common ancestor of given two nodes.

For example, in the following tree,
the lowest common ancestor of nodes 5 and 8
is node 2:
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (2,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-2,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (0,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (2,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-1,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (-1,-3) {$8$};
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (7) -- (8);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

Next we will discuss two efficient techniques for
finding the lowest common ancestor of two nodes.

\subsubsection{Method 1}

One way to solve the problem is to use the fact
that we can efficiently find the $k$th
ancestor of any node in the tree.
Thus, we can first make sure that
both nodes are at the same level in the tree,
and then find the smallest value of $k$
such that the $k$th ancestor of both nodes is the same.

As an example, let us find the lowest common
ancestor of nodes $5$ and $8$:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (2,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-2,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (0,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (2,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle,fill=lightgray] (6) at (-3,-1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-1,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle,fill=lightgray] (8) at (-1,-3) {$8$};
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (7) -- (8);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

Node $5$ is at level $3$, while node $8$ is at level $4$.
Thus, we first move one step upwards from node $8$ to node $6$.
After this, it turns out that the parent of both nodes $5$
and $6$ is node $2$, so we have found the lowest common ancestor.

The following picture shows how we move in the tree:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (2,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-2,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (0,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (2,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle,fill=lightgray] (6) at (-3,-1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-1,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle,fill=lightgray] (8) at (-1,-3) {$8$};
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (7) -- (8);

\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (6) edge [bend left] (3);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (8) edge [bend right] (7);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (7) edge [bend right] (3);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

Using this method, we can find the lowest common ancestor
of any two nodes in $O(\log n)$ time after an $O(n \log n)$ time
preprocessing, because both steps can be
performed in $O(\log n)$ time.

\subsubsection{Method 2}

Another way to solve the problem is based on
a node array.
Once again, the idea is to traverse the nodes
using a depth-first search:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (2,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-2,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (0,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (2,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-1,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (-1,-3) {$8$};
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (7) -- (8);

\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (1) edge [bend right=15] (3);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (3) edge [bend right=15] (6);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (6) edge [bend right=15] (3);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (3) edge [bend right=15] (7);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (7) edge [bend right=15] (8);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (8) edge [bend right=15] (7);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (7) edge [bend right=15] (3);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (3) edge [bend right=15] (1);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (1) edge [bend right=15] (4);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (4) edge [bend right=15] (1);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (1) edge [bend right=15] (2);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (2) edge [bend right=15] (5);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (5) edge [bend right=15] (2);
\path[draw=red,thick,->,line width=2pt] (2) edge [bend right=15] (1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

However, in this problem,
we add each node to the node array \emph{always}
when the depth-first search visits the node,
and not only at the first visit.
Hence, a node that has $k$ children appears $k+1$ times
in the node array, and there are a total of $2n-1$
nodes in the array.

We store two values in the array:
(1) the identifier of the node, and (2) the level of the 
node in the tree.
The following array corresponds to the above tree:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]

\draw (0,1) grid (15,2);
%\node at (-1.1,1.5) {\texttt{node}};
\node at (0.5,1.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.5) {$5$};
\node at (3.5,1.5) {$2$};
\node at (4.5,1.5) {$6$};
\node at (5.5,1.5) {$8$};
\node at (6.5,1.5) {$6$};
\node at (7.5,1.5) {$2$};
\node at (8.5,1.5) {$1$};
\node at (9.5,1.5) {$3$};
\node at (10.5,1.5) {$1$};
\node at (11.5,1.5) {$4$};
\node at (12.5,1.5) {$7$};
\node at (13.5,1.5) {$4$};
\node at (14.5,1.5) {$1$};


\draw (0,0) grid (15,1);
%\node at (-1.1,0.5) {\texttt{depth}};
\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (9.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (10.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (11.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (12.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (13.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (14.5,0.5) {$1$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,2.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,2.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,2.5) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,2.5) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,2.5) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,2.5) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,2.5) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,2.5) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,2.5) {$9$};
\node at (9.5,2.5) {$10$};
\node at (10.5,2.5) {$11$};
\node at (11.5,2.5) {$12$};
\node at (12.5,2.5) {$13$};
\node at (13.5,2.5) {$14$};
\node at (14.5,2.5) {$15$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

Using this array, we can find the lowest common ancestor
of nodes $a$ and $b$ by finding the node with lowest level
between nodes $a$ and $b$ in the array.
For example, the lowest common ancestor of nodes $5$ and $8$
can be found as follows:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\fill[color=lightgray] (2,1) rectangle (3,2);
\fill[color=lightgray] (5,1) rectangle (6,2);
\fill[color=lightgray] (2,0) rectangle (6,1);

\node at (3.5,-0.5) {$\uparrow$};

\draw (0,1) grid (15,2);
\node at (0.5,1.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,1.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,1.5) {$5$};
\node at (3.5,1.5) {$2$};
\node at (4.5,1.5) {$6$};
\node at (5.5,1.5) {$8$};
\node at (6.5,1.5) {$6$};
\node at (7.5,1.5) {$2$};
\node at (8.5,1.5) {$1$};
\node at (9.5,1.5) {$3$};
\node at (10.5,1.5) {$1$};
\node at (11.5,1.5) {$4$};
\node at (12.5,1.5) {$7$};
\node at (13.5,1.5) {$4$};
\node at (14.5,1.5) {$1$};


\draw (0,0) grid (15,1);
\node at (0.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (4.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (5.5,0.5) {$4$};
\node at (6.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (7.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (8.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (9.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (10.5,0.5) {$1$};
\node at (11.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (12.5,0.5) {$3$};
\node at (13.5,0.5) {$2$};
\node at (14.5,0.5) {$1$};

\footnotesize
\node at (0.5,2.5) {$1$};
\node at (1.5,2.5) {$2$};
\node at (2.5,2.5) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,2.5) {$4$};
\node at (4.5,2.5) {$5$};
\node at (5.5,2.5) {$6$};
\node at (6.5,2.5) {$7$};
\node at (7.5,2.5) {$8$};
\node at (8.5,2.5) {$9$};
\node at (9.5,2.5) {$10$};
\node at (10.5,2.5) {$11$};
\node at (11.5,2.5) {$12$};
\node at (12.5,2.5) {$13$};
\node at (13.5,2.5) {$14$};
\node at (14.5,2.5) {$15$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}

Node 5 is at position 3, node 8 is at position 6,
and the node with lowest level between
positions $3 \ldots 6$ is node 2 at position 4
whose level is 2.
Thus, the lowest common ancestor of
nodes 5 and 8 is node 2.

Thus, to find the lowest common ancestor
of two nodes it suffices to process a range
minimum query.
Since the array is static,
we can process such queries in $O(1)$ time
after an $O(n \log n)$ time preprocessing.

\subsubsection{Distances of nodes}

Finally, let us consider the problem of
finding the distance between
two nodes in the tree, which equals
the length of the path between them.
It turns out that this problem reduces to
finding the lowest common ancestor of the nodes.

First, we root the tree arbitrarily.
After this, the distance between nodes $a$ and $b$
can be calculated using the formula
\[d(a)+d(b)-2 \cdot d(c),\]
where $c$ is the lowest common ancestor of $a$ and $b$
and $d(s)$ denotes the distance from the root node
to node $s$.
For example, in the tree

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.9]
\node[draw, circle] (1) at (0,3) {$1$};
\node[draw, circle] (2) at (2,1) {$4$};
\node[draw, circle] (3) at (-2,1) {$2$};
\node[draw, circle] (4) at (0,1) {$3$};
\node[draw, circle] (5) at (2,-1) {$7$};
\node[draw, circle] (6) at (-3,-1) {$5$};
\node[draw, circle] (7) at (-1,-1) {$6$};
\node[draw, circle] (8) at (-1,-3) {$8$};
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (2);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (3);
\path[draw,thick,-] (1) -- (4);
\path[draw,thick,-] (2) -- (5);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (6);
\path[draw,thick,-] (3) -- (7);
\path[draw,thick,-] (7) -- (8);

\path[draw=red,thick,-,line width=2pt] (8) -- node[font=\small] {} (7);
\path[draw=red,thick,-,line width=2pt] (7) -- node[font=\small] {} (3);
\path[draw=red,thick,-,line width=2pt] (6) -- node[font=\small] {} (3);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
the lowest common ancestor of nodes 5 and 8 is node 2.
A path from node 5 to node 8
first ascends from node 5 to node 2
and then descends from node 2 to node 8.
The distances of the nodes from the root are
$d(5)=3$, $d(8)=4$ and $d(2)=2$,
so the distance between nodes 5 and 8 is
$3+4-2\cdot2=3$.