compression on Binary Tree
Last updated: March 31, 2026
Quick Overview
Perform a compression on a binary tree and return the result.
Vercel
March 31, 202610
12
4,028 solved
Perform a compression on a binary tree and return the result.
This coding problem is frequently asked during Phone Screen at Vercel. The interviewer is testing your ability to translate a problem into clean, working code while discussing time and space complexity. Vercel expects candidates to write production-quality code, not just solve the puzzle.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Quickly identify the optimal approach and its theoretical basis
- Handle complex algorithm design with multiple interacting components
- Write concise, elegant code under time pressure
- Prove correctness of your approach and discuss alternative solutions
- Optimize beyond the obvious: discuss constant factor improvements
- Address follow-up variations and explain how the solution generalizes
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
- Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
- Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
- Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
- Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- How would you test this solution thoroughly?
- What happens if the input contains duplicates?
- How would you modify your solution to handle streaming input?
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Practice DSA ProblemsSample Answer
Problem Analysis
To perform compression on a binary tree, we need to reduce the size of the tree while preserving its structure and properties. In this problem, we can utilize a Depth-First Search (DFS) traversal ...
Approach
- Define a recursive function that takes the current node as input.
- Base Case: If the current node is null, return null.
- Process the Left and Right Subtrees: Call the recursive fu...
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