A special, more structured type of tree that is foundational to computer science.
While general trees are flexible, their complexity (having any number of children) can make them difficult to analyze and implement.
Binary trees introduce a simple but powerful constraint: each node can have at most two children. This simplification makes them one of the most studied and widely used data structures, forming the basis for search trees, heaps, and more.
General Tree
(Many Children)
Binary Tree
(Max Two Children)
Each node has zero, one, or two children.
Each child is specifically designated as either the left child or the right child. The order matters.