> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://nataliekung.gitbook.io/ladder_code/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://nataliekung.gitbook.io/ladder_code/meta-2025/1650.-lowest-common-ancestor-of-a-binary-tree-iii.md).

# 1650. Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree III

Given two nodes of a binary tree `p` and `q`, return *their lowest common ancestor (LCA)*.

Each node will have a reference to its parent node. The definition for `Node` is below:

```
class Node {
    public int val;
    public Node left;
    public Node right;
    public Node parent;
}
```

According to the [**definition of LCA on Wikipedia**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowest_common_ancestor): "The lowest common ancestor of two nodes p and q in a tree T is the lowest node that has both p and q as descendants (where we allow a node to be a descendant of itself)."

 

**Example 1:**

![](https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2018/12/14/binarytree.png)

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

**Example 2:**

![](https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2018/12/14/binarytree.png)

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

**Example 3:**

<pre><code><strong>Input: root = [1,2], p = 1, q = 2
</strong><strong>Output: 1
</strong></code></pre>

&#x20;

**Constraints:**

* The number of nodes in the tree is in the range `[2, 10`<sup>`5`</sup>`]`.
* `-10`<sup>`9`</sup>` ``<= Node.val <= 10`<sup>`9`</sup>
* All `Node.val` are **unique**.
* `p != q`
* `p` and `q` exist in the tree.

&#x20;分析：

**数学本质**：

* 所有相遇问题都可转化为**追及问题**
* 通过设定不同的步长比（如1:2, m:n）解决不同场景

```
是否树形结构？
├─ 是 → 是否有parent指针？
│   ├─ 是 → 使用LCA双指针法（本题）
│   └─ 否 → 需要递归查找
└─ 否 → 是否为环形检测？
    ├─ 是 → 快慢指针法
    └─ 否 → 相向指针/滑动窗口
```

对比 另一个LCA 提供ROOT 自顶向下，`parent`指针提供反向移动能力<br>

1. **总步数相同**

   * 第一次遍历：
     * `pointer1` 走 `a` 步到 LCA，再走 `b` 步到 `q` 的起始位置。
     * `pointer2` 走 `b` 步到 LCA，再走 `a` 步到 `p` 的起始位置。
     * 这里省略到LCA到ROOT距离，因为这一段是重复的。双方都走可抵消。
   * 第二次遍历：
     * 此时，`pointer1` 和 `pointer2` 都走了 `a + b` 步，**必定在 LCA 处相遇**。

   有点类似快慢指针的思想

```
"""
# Definition for a Node.
class Node:
    def __init__(self, val):
        self.val = val
        self.left = None
        self.right = None
        self.parent = None
"""

class Solution:
    def lowestCommonAncestor(self, p: 'Node', q: 'Node') -> 'Node':
        a,b = p,q
        while a != b:
            a = a.parent if a else q
            b = b.parent if b else p
        return a

```


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