Leaves
In the context of a tree data structure, leaves (or leaf nodes) are the nodes at the bottom of the tree that do not have any children. Leaves are the terminal nodes of a tree, marking the endpoints of the paths from the root. They are significant in various tree operations and algorithms, as they often represent base cases in recursive functions or the final elements in a collection. In binary trees, for example, leaves are nodes with both left and right child pointers set to null. The concept of leaves is not only pivotal in understanding tree traversal and manipulation algorithms but also plays a crucial role in applications such as decision trees, where leaves might represent final decisions or outcomes, and in hierarchical data representations, where they might signify the most specific subdivisions or items.