Height of a binary tree ($h$)

For a nonempty binary tree, the largest number of edges on a downward graph path from its root of a tree to a leaf. A single vertex has height of a binary tree $0$; a chain of $n\ge 1$ vertices has height of a binary tree $n-1$. A convenient recursion convention assigns an empty binary tree height $-1$, giving $h=1+\max (h_L,h_R)$ for the left and right subtrees. A binary search tree lookup visits at most $h+1$ vertices.

The convention counts edges, rather than vertices on the longest graph path. Its recursive form is^[ref]

For a leaf, both subtrees are empty, giving $1+\max (-1,-1)=0$. For the mixed four-vertex example, $h(C)=h(D)=0$, $h(B)=1+\max (-1,0)=1$, and $h(A)=1+\max (1,0)=2$. The four-vertex chain has height of a binary tree $3$. A convention that counts vertices would add one to every nonempty binary tree height, so a height formula must specify its convention.

At distance $d$ from the root of a tree, there are at most $2^d$ vertices: each vertex in the preceding level has at most two children in a rooted tree. Summing this geometric series and using the longest graph path gives, for $n\ge 1$,The upper bound is attained by a chain; a perfect binary tree attains the capacity bound. For $n=4$, the minimum possible height of a binary tree is $\lceil {\log }_{2}5\rceil -1=2$, as in the mixed example, while the maximum is $3$. The binary tree definition permits both extremes. Small height of a binary tree bounds the length of a directed lookup in a binary search tree; evaluating the height of a binary tree by the displayed structural recursion still examines all $n$ vertices, requiring $O(n)$ time complexity under constant-cost child access and arithmetic.