In a binary search tree, how are the left and right children of a node defined?

In a binary search tree (BST), the structure and properties dictate the positioning of child nodes relative to their parent nodes. Specifically, the left child of a node contains values that are strictly less than the value of the parent node, while the right child contains values that are strictly greater than the parent's value. This organization allows for efficient searching, insertion, and deletion operations, as the tree can be traversed in a manner that consistently narrows down the location of a given value.

The property ensures that for any node, all the values in its left subtree are lesser, and all the values in its right subtree are greater, facilitating a logarithmic time complexity for various operations when the tree is balanced.

Understanding this principle is fundamental to employing binary search trees effectively in various algorithms and applications.