Informal Description
The k-d tree is a binary tree in which every node is a k-dimensional point. Every non-leaf node can be thought of as implicitly generating a splitting hyperplane that divides the space into two parts, known as half-spaces. Points to the left of this hyperplane represent the left subtree of that node and points right of the hyperplane are represented by the right subtree. The hyperplane direction is chosen in the following way: every node in the tree is associated with one of the k-dimensions, with the hyperplane perpendicular to that dimension's axis. So, for example, if for a particular split the "x" axis is chosen, all points in the subtree with a smaller "x" value than the node will appear in the left subtree and all points with larger "x" value will be in the right subtree. In such a case, the hyperplane would be set by the x-value of the point, and its normal would be the unit x-axis.
Read more about this topic: K-d Tree
Famous quotes containing the words informal and/or description:
“We are now a nation of people in daily contact with strangers. Thanks to mass transportation, school administrators and teachers often live many miles from the neighborhood schoolhouse. They are no longer in daily informal contact with parents, ministers, and other institution leaders . . . [and are] no longer a natural extension of parental authority.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)
“Do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and to- morrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)