Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum

一、问题描述

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 does not need to go through the root.

For example:
Given the below binary tree,

       1
      / \
     2   3

Return 6.

二、思路

找到二叉树中路径中最长的一条，返回路径长度。

采用递归思路，递归退出条件：

        if(!root) return 0;

分别求出左右子树的最大长度，将求出的左右子树的长度加上当前节点的值即为最大路径长度：

pLeft + pRight + root -> val

和其他路径长度作比较，保存最大的路径长度，最后返回当前的路径长度。

三、代码

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    int maxPathSum(TreeNode* root) {
        int value = INT_MIN;
        maxPath(root, value);
        return value;
    }
    int maxPath(TreeNode * root, int & maxvalue){
        if(!root) return 0;
        int pLeft = max(0, maxPath(root -> left,maxvalue));
        int pRight = max(0, maxPath(root -> right,maxvalue));
        maxvalue = max(maxvalue, pLeft + pRight + root -> val);
        return max(pLeft, pRight) + root -> val;
    }
};