Leaf-to-leaf distances and their moments in finite and infinite m-ary tree graphs

Abstract

We study the leaf-to-leaf distances on full and complete m-ary graphs using a recursive approach. In our formulation, leaves are ordered along a line. We find explicit analytical formulae for the sum of all paths for arbitrary leaf-to-leaf distance r as well as the average path lengths and the moments thereof. We show that the resulting explicit expressions can be recast in terms of Hurwitz-Lerch transcendants. Results for periodic trees are also given. For incomplete random binary trees, we provide first results by numerical techniques; we find a rapid drop of leaf-to-leaf distances for large r.