Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum

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Given a binary tree, find the maximum path sum.

The path may start and end at any node in the tree.

Example

Given the below binary tree,

       1
      / \
     2   3

Key:

1. Divide & Conquer

2. Save two information: maxPath & singlePath

3. maxPath: similar to a global variable. We store in it the max path sum found so far. Not necessarily include the current root node.

    singlePath: store in it the max path sum for a single path, either include the root(left.singlePath + root.val or right.singlePath + root.val) or not include the root (0).

4. Initial condition: if the current node is a leaf, singlePath should be 0, because singlePath doesn't have to include the current node. MaxPath should be Integer.MAX_VALUE.

/**
 * Definition of TreeNode:
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     public int val;
 *     public TreeNode left, right;
 *     public TreeNode(int val) {
 *         this.val = val;
 *         this.left = this.right = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    /**
     * @param root: The root of binary tree.
     * @return: An integer.
     */
    public int maxPathSum(TreeNode root) {
        if (root == null) {
            return 0;
        }
        return helper(root).maxPath;
    }
    
    ReturnType helper(TreeNode root) {
        if (root == null) {
            return new ReturnType(Integer.MIN_VALUE, 0);
        }
        ReturnType left = helper(root.left);
        ReturnType right = helper(root.right);
        int singlePath = Math.max(left.singlePath + root.val, 
                            right.singlePath + root.val);
        singlePath = Math.max(0, singlePath);
        
        int maxPath = Math.max(left.maxPath, right.maxPath);
        maxPath = Math.max(maxPath, left.singlePath + root.val + right.singlePath);
        return new ReturnType(maxPath, singlePath);
    }

    class ReturnType {
        int maxPath;
        int singlePath;
        
        public ReturnType(int maxPath, int singlePath) {
            this.maxPath = maxPath;
            this.singlePath = singlePath;
        }
    }
}