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Problem

Kth Largest Element in an Array

Medium
  • arrays
  • sorting
  • heap

Return the k-th largest value in nums: the largest is 1st, the next is 2nd, and so on. nums is not sorted. When a value repeats, each copy takes its own rank.

Example 1
Input
nums = [9, 4, 7, 1, 8], k = 2
Output
8
Explanation

from the largest down the values are 9, 8, 7, 4, 1, so the 2nd is 8.

Example 2
Input
nums = [5, 3, 5, 2, 5, 1], k = 3
Output
5
Explanation

from the largest down the values are 5, 5, 5, 3, 2, 1. The three 5s take ranks 1, 2 and 3, so the 3rd value is 5.

Constraints:

  • 1 <= k <= nums.length <= 2 * 10^5
  • -10^9 <= nums[i] <= 10^9

Follow-up: sorting everything costs O(n log n). Can you do better on average?

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