\chapter{Tree queries}

\index{tree query}

This chapter discusses techniques for
efficiently processing queries related
to subtrees and paths of a rooted tree.
For example, possible 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 tree above
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} 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 support 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 between the root node and 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 between
the root node and a node
\end{itemize}

For example, in the following tree, the sum of
values from the root to node 8 is $4+5+3=12$.

\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}

To solve this problem, we can use a similar
technique as we used for subtree queries,
but the values of the nodes are stored
in a special way:
if the value of a node at position $k$ 
increases by $a$,
the value at position $k$ increases by $a$
and the value at position $k+c$ decreases by $a$,
where $c$ is the size of the subtree.

\begin{samepage}
For example, the following array corresponds to the above tree:
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\draw (0,1) grid (10,-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 (9.5,0.5) {--};

\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 (9.5,-0.5) {--};

\node at (0.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (1.5,-1.5) {$5$};
\node at (2.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,-1.5) {$-5$};
\node at (4.5,-1.5) {$2$};
\node at (5.5,-1.5) {$5$};
\node at (6.5,-1.5) {$-2$};
\node at (7.5,-1.5) {$-2$};
\node at (8.5,-1.5) {$-4$};
\node at (9.5,-1.5) {$-4$};

\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) {$9$};
\node at (9.5,1.4) {$10$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\end{samepage}

For example, the value of node $3$ is $-5$,
because it is the next node after the subtrees
of nodes $2$ and $6$ and its own value is $3$.
So the value decreases by $5+3$ and increases by $3$.
Note that the array contains an extra index 10
that only has the opposite number of the value
of the root node.

Using this array, the sum of values in a path
from the root to node $x$ equals the sum
of values in the array from the beginning to node $x$.
For example, the sum from the root to node $8$
can be calculated as follows:

\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.7]
\fill[color=lightgray] (6,1) rectangle (7,0);
\fill[color=lightgray] (0,-1) rectangle (7,-2);
\draw (0,1) grid (10,-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 (9.5,0.5) {--};

\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 (9.5,-0.5) {--};

\node at (0.5,-1.5) {$4$};
\node at (1.5,-1.5) {$5$};
\node at (2.5,-1.5) {$3$};
\node at (3.5,-1.5) {$-5$};
\node at (4.5,-1.5) {$2$};
\node at (5.5,-1.5) {$5$};
\node at (6.5,-1.5) {$-2$};
\node at (7.5,-1.5) {$-2$};
\node at (8.5,-1.5) {$-4$};
\node at (9.5,-1.5) {$-4$};

\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) {$9$};
\node at (9.5,1.4) {$10$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
The sum is
\[4+5+3-5+2+5-2=12\]
that equals the sum $4+5+3=12$.
This method works, because the value of each node
is added to the sum when the depth-first search
visits the node for the first time, and the value
of the node is removed from the sum when the subtree of the
node has been processed.

Once again, we can store the values of the nodes
in a binary indexed tree or a segment tree,
so it is possible to both update a value and
calculate the sum of values efficiently in $O(\log n)$ time.

\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 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);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
the lowest common ancestor of nodes 5 and 8 is node 2,
and the lowest common ancestor of nodes 3 and 4 is node 1.

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 $8$ in the following 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);
\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.

\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, 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.

Using a segment tree, we can find the lowest
common ancestor in $O(\log n)$ time.
Since the array is static, the time complexity
$O(1)$ is also possible, but this is rarely needed.
In both cases, the preprocessing takes $O(n \log n)$ time.

\subsubsection{Distances of nodes}

Finally, let us consider a 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 choose an arbitrary node for the
root of the tree.
After this, the distance between nodes $a$ and $b$
is $d(a)+d(b)-2 \cdot d(c)$,
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
goes first upwards from node 5 to node 2,
and then downwards 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
$3+4-2\cdot2=3$.