124. Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum

Given a binary tree, find the maximum path sum.

For this problem, a path is defined as any sequence of nodes from some starting node to any node in the tree along the parent-child connections. The path must contain at least one node and does not need to go through the root.

For example:
Given the below binary tree,

       1
      / \
     2   3

Return 6.

My way to solve it is simple:

for each of the node, suppose it is the highest node in the path, compute the maxPath sum

The Code:

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode left;
 *     TreeNode right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) { val = x; }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    int max = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
    HashMap<TreeNode, Integer> hm = new HashMap<>();
    public int maxPathSum(TreeNode root) {
        helper(root);
        return max;
    }
    
    void helper(TreeNode root){
        if(root == null) return;
        int left = maxPathDown(root.left);
        int right = maxPathDown(root.right);
        int sum = root.val;
        if(left > 0) sum += left;
        if(right > 0) sum += right;
        if(sum > max) max = sum;
        helper(root.left);
        helper(root.right);
    }
    
    int maxPathDown(TreeNode root){
        if(root == null) return 0;
        if(hm.containsKey(root)) return hm.get(root);
        int ans = root.val + Math.max(Math.max(maxPathDown(root.left),maxPathDown(root.right)), 0);
        hm.put(root,ans);
        return ans;
    }
}

The helper() method compute and update the path sum for each node as the highest node

The maxPathDown() method compute one path down from a node to the leaf and return the max value of the sum it encountered.

HashMap is used to avoid repeating computation.

I believe this solution runs in O(n) time since every Node is visited 2 times(once in helper and once in maxPathdown)

A smarter way to solve it is to do the update while inside the recursion

public class Solution {
    int max = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
    HashMap<TreeNode, Integer> hm = new HashMap<>();
    public int maxPathSum(TreeNode root) {
        maxPathDown(root);
        return max;
    }
    
    int maxPathDown(TreeNode root){
        if(root == null) return 0;
        int left = maxPathDown(root.left);
        int right = maxPathDown(root.right);
        int sum = root.val;
        if(left > 0) sum += left;
        if(right > 0) sum += right;
        if(sum > max) max = sum;
        return root.val + Math.max(0,Math.max(left,right));
    }
}