Lowest Common Ancestor LCA in Finite State Machines

What is Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA)? The Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) of two nodes in a tree is the deepest (i.e., lowest) node that is an ancestor of both nodes. In other words, it is the shared ancestor of the two nodes that is located farthest from the root. The concept is fundamental in computer science, especially in the context of tree data structures, such as binary trees, general trees, and state machines. ...

January 31, 2026 · 3 min · 553 words · Niraj Kashyap