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ZeeshanAli-0704
ZeeshanAli-0704

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LCA of Binary Tree

Given a binary tree, find the lowest common ancestor (LCA) of two given nodes in the tree.

According to the definition of LCA on Wikipedia: β€œThe lowest common ancestor is defined between two nodes p and q as the lowest node in T that has both p and q as descendants (where we allow a node to be a descendant of itself).”

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Example 1:
Input: root = [3,5,1,6,2,0,8,null,null,7,4], p = 5, q = 1
Output: 3
Explanation: The LCA of nodes 5 and 1 is 3.

Example 2:
Input: root = [3,5,1,6,2,0,8,null,null,7,4], p = 5, q = 4
Output: 5
Explanation: The LCA of nodes 5 and 4 is 5, since a node can be a descendant of itself according to the LCA definition.

Example 3:
Input: root = [1,2], p = 1, q = 2
Output: 1

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * function TreeNode(val) {
 *     this.val = val;
 *     this.left = this.right = null;
 * }
 */
/**
 * @param {TreeNode} root
 * @param {TreeNode} p
 * @param {TreeNode} q
 * @return {TreeNode}
 */
var lowestCommonAncestor = function (root, p, q) {
  if (!root) return null;

  if (root == p || root == q) {
    return root;
  }

  const lac1 = lowestCommonAncestor(root.left, p, q);
  const lca2 = lowestCommonAncestor(root.right, p, q);

  if (lac1 !== null && lca2 !== null) {
    return root;
  }

  if (lac1 !== null) {
    return lac1;
  }

  return lca2;
};

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