Leetcode 98. Validate Binary Search Tree

Problem

Given the root of a binary tree, determine if it is a valid binary search tree (BST).

A valid BST is defined as follows:

The left subtree of a node contains only nodes with keys less than the node’s key.
The right subtree of a node contains only nodes with keys greater than the node’s key.
Both the left and right subtrees must also be binary search trees.

Algorithm

Recursion. Return the minimal and maximal data of each sub-tree and compare the data to test.

Code

# Definition for a binary tree node.
# class TreeNode:
#     def __init__(self, val=0, left=None, right=None):
#         self.val = val
#         self.left = left
#         self.right = right
class Solution:
    def isValidBST(self, root: TreeNode) -> bool:
        
        def bst(root):
            if not root:
                return [True, -Inf, +Inf]
            
            if root.left:
                L = bst(root.left)
                if not L[0] or root.val <= L[2]:
                    return [False, 0, 0]
            else:
                L = [True, root.val, root.val]
            
            if root.right:
                R = bst(root.right)
                if not R[0] or root.val >= R[1]:
                    return [False, 0, 0]
            else:
                R = [True, root.val, root.val]

            return [True, L[1], R[2]]
        
        return bst(root)[0]