Kth Smallest Element in an Array

[MyrinNew]

Hi everyone!

While practicing array problems, I came across this question about finding the kth smallest element. It’s a good problem for understanding sorting and indexing.


Problem

Given an array and a number 'k', we need to find the kth smallest element.


Example:

Input: [7, 10, 4, 3, 20, 15], k = 3


Output: 7


My Approach

At first, I thought about checking all elements manually, but that would be complicated.


Then I realized:

If we sort the array, the kth smallest element will be at index 'k-1'.

So the solution becomes very simple.

Logic

• Sort the array
• Return the element at position'k-1'

Code (Python)

class Solution:

def kthSmallest(self, arr, k):

arr.sort()

return arr[k - 1]


Time & Space Complexity

• Time: O(n log n) (due to sorting)
• Space: O(1)

What I Learned

• Sorting can simplify many problems
• Indexing is important when working with ordered data
• Always think of a simple approach first before optimizing

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to share better approaches or optimizations.




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