Editing Tree structure (section)

{{short description|Way of representing the hierarchical nature of a structure in a graphical form}}
{{more footnotes|date=July 2014}}

{{merge from|Dendrogram|date=May 2025}}

[[File:Binary tree structure.svg|300px|thumb|A tree structure showing the possible hierarchical organization of an encyclopedia]]
[[File:ENC SYSTEME FIGURE.jpeg|300px|thumb|The original [[Encyclopédie]] (1752) used a tree diagram to show the way in which its subjects were ordered.]]
A '''tree structure''', '''tree diagram''', or '''tree model''' is a way of representing the [[hierarchy|hierarchical]] nature of a [[structure]] in a graphical form. It is named a "tree structure" because the classic [[#Representing trees|representation]] resembles a [[tree]], although the chart is generally upside down compared to a biological tree, with the "stem" at the top and the "leaves" at the bottom.

A tree structure is conceptual, and appears in several forms. For a discussion of tree structures in specific fields, see [[Tree (data structure)]] for computer science; insofar as it relates to graph theory, see  [[tree (graph theory)]] or [[tree (set theory)]]. Other related articles are listed below.