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---
title: '236. Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree'
description: Given a binary tree, find the lowest common ancestor (LCA) of two given nodes in the tree
icon: line-dot-left-horizontal
sidebar:
label: 'Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree'
badge: 'Medium'
---
<Badge variant="accent">Tree</Badge>
### 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`
### Constraints:
- The number of nodes in the tree is in the range [2, 10^5].
- `-10^9 <= Node.val <= 10^9`
- All Node.val are unique.
- `p != q`
- p and q will exist in the tree.
## Approach
```mermaid
flowchart TD
S(["lowestCommonAncestor(root, p, q)"]) --> B{"not root?"}
B -- yes --> N(["return None"])
B -- no --> M{"root == p or root == q?"}
M -- yes --> R(["return root — a node is its own ancestor"])
M -- no --> L["l = self.lowestCommonAncestor(root.left, p, q)"]
L --> Q["r = self.lowestCommonAncestor(root.right, p, q)"]
Q --> D{"l and r?"}
D -- yes --> A(["return root — p and q were found on different sides"])
D -- no --> E(["return l or r — pass up whichever side found something"])
```
## Solution
```py
# Definition for a binary tree node.
# class TreeNode:
# def __init__(self, x):
# self.val = x
# self.left = None
# self.right = None
class Solution:
def lowestCommonAncestor(
self, root: "TreeNode", p: "TreeNode", q: "TreeNode"
) -> "TreeNode":
if not root:
return None
if root == p or root == q:
return root
l = self.lowestCommonAncestor(root.left, p, q)
r = self.lowestCommonAncestor(root.right, p, q)
if l and r:
return root
else:
return l or r
```