A 5-ary tree is tree in which every internal node has exactly 5 children. The…

2018

A 5-ary tree is tree in which every internal node has exactly 5 children. The number of left (Leaf) nodes in such a tree with 8 internal nodes will be : 

  1. A.

    30

  2. B.

    33

  3. C.

    45

  4. D.

    125

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Correct answer: B

Key idea: For a full m-ary tree (every internal node has exactly m children), the number of leaves L and internal nodes I satisfy a simple relation.

  • Each internal node has m children, so the total number of edges in the tree is m × I.

  • If N is the total number of nodes, edges = N − 1, hence N − 1 = mI, so N = mI + 1.

  • But N = I + L, so I + L = mI + 1. Rearranging gives L = (m − 1)I + 1.

Apply to this problem: m = 5 and I = 8, so L = (5 − 1)×8 + 1 = 4×8 + 1 = 33.

Answer: 33 leaf nodes.

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