124. Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum [Hard]

/**
 * very elegant code from discuss
 * Runtime: 0 ms, faster than 100.00%
 * Memory Usage: 40.6 MB, less than 74.38%
 */
class Solution {
    int max = Integer.MIN_VALUE; // 更新以每个节点为根节点的子树的最大pathSum
    
    public int maxPathSum(TreeNode root) {
        helper(root);
        return max;
    }
    
    private int helper(TreeNode root) {
        if (root == null) {
            return 0;
        }
        int left = Math.max(0, helper(root.left));
        int right = Math.max(0, helper(root.right));
        max = Math.max(max, root.val + left + right); // 按照当前节点为根节点更新max，每一个节点作为根结点的情况都会被比较，所以能找到最大路径
        return root.val + Math.max(left, right); // 为父节点提供当前节点为子树根节点的子树最大路径和
    }
}