length of binary tree

Question

What do we mean by length of binary tree - number of nodes, or height of tree?

Thank you

Answer 1

I am going to argue that the n, number of nodes is the "best" answer.

Almost any recursively consistent measure might be argued as a potential answer, e.g. height. However, size of tree=n, number of nodes is the largest numerical answer.

Height of tree=log n, and the others will all be same or smaller numbers. So I conclude that node-count "should" be the length of a tree. It carries the most bits of information of the arguable possibilities.

Answer 2

Typically, 'length' refers to the number of items in the underlying data structure. The height of the tree would be its 'depth'

Answer 3

I would personally think of 'length' as the height (depth), not the size (# of nodes) of the tree, but this is quite a contextual question.

Answer 4

It is not a term I have seen used to describe the properties of a binary tree. I would guess someone using it would be referring to the depth.