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Solution: Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree

Understand how to find the lowest common ancestor of two nodes in a binary tree by applying depth-first search and recursion. Explore the use of tracking variables to determine the ancestor node efficiently while analyzing time and space complexities.

Statement

Given the root node of a binary tree with nn nodes, your task is to find the lowest common ancestor of two of its nodes, p and q.

Note: The lowest common ancestor of two nodes, p and q, is defined as the lowest node in the binary tree that has both p and q as descendants.

A node can also be a descendant of itself. For example, if q is a descendant of p, and we know that p is a descendant of itself, then p will be the lowest common ancestor of p and q.

Constraints:

  • 2n5002 \leq n \leq 500
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