Question

A binary tree node's left and right pointers point to the node's __________.

Short answer

Answer: In a binary tree node, the left pointer points to the node's left child, and the right pointer points to the node's right child.

Step-by-step solution

Understanding Binary Trees

A binary tree is a data structure in which each parent node has at most two children, called the left child and the right child. A node that does not have any children is called a leaf. The binary tree starts with a root node, which is the topmost node of the tree.

Understanding the Node Structure

In binary trees, each node has a key (data element), a reference to the left child, and a reference to the right child. Each child, in turn, is also a node and follows the same structure. In Python, for example, a binary tree node class could look like this: ```python class TreeNode: def __init__(self, key): self.key = key self.left = None self.right = None ``` In this class, `left` and `right` are pointers to the left and right children nodes respectively, and `key` stores the data element.

Identify What the Pointers Point To

Now that we understand the structure of a binary tree node, we can answer the question of what the left and right pointers of a node point to. In a binary tree node, the left pointer points to the node's left child, and the right pointer points to the node's right child.