230. Kth Smallest Element in a BST
Given a binary search tree, write a function kthSmallest
to find the kth smallest element in it.
Note:
You may assume k is always valid, 1 ≤ k ≤ BST's total elements.
Follow up:
What if the BST is modified (insert/delete operations) often and you need to find the kth smallest frequently? How would you optimize the kthSmallest routine?
Hint:
- Try to utilize the property of a BST.
- What if you could modify the BST node's structure?
- The optimal runtime complexity is O(height of BST).
Similar: Binary Tree Inorder Traversal
1 Solution 1. Binary Search 2 Time Complexity: T(n) = n/2 + T(n/2) = O(n) 3 /** 4 * Definition for a binary tree node. 5 * public class TreeNode { 6 * int val; 7 * TreeNode left; 8 * TreeNode right; 9 * TreeNode(int x) { val = x; } 10 * } 11 */ 12 public class Solution { 13 public int kthSmallest(TreeNode root, int k) { 14 int count = countNodes(root.left); 15 if (k <= count) { 16 return kthSmallest(root.left, k); 17 } else if (k > count + 1) { 18 return kthSmallest(root.right, k-1-count); 19 } 20 return root.val; 21 } 22 23 public int countNodes(TreeNode n) { 24 if (n == null) return 0; 25 return 1 + countNodes(n.left) + countNodes(n.right); 26 } 27 } 28 29 Solution 2. Modify the structure of BST 30 Time Complexity: O(lg n) 31 /** 32 * Definition for a binary tree node. 33 * public class TreeNode { 34 * int val; 35 * TreeNode left; 36 * TreeNode right; 37 * TreeNode(int x) { val = x; } 38 * } 39 */ 40 public class Solution { 41 public int kthSmallest(TreeNode root, int k) { 42 TreeWithCount twcRoot = buildTWC(root); 43 return findKth(twcRoot, k); 44 } 45 46 private int findKth(TreeWithCount root, int k) { 47 if (k <= 0 || k > root.count) return -1; 48 if (root.left != null) { 49 if (root.left.count == k-1) return root.val; 50 if (k <= root.left.count) return findKth(root.left, k); 51 return findKth(root.right, k-1-root.left.count); 52 } else { 53 if (k == 1) return root.val; 54 return findKth(root.right, k-1); 55 } 56 } 57 58 private TreeWithCount buildTWC(TreeNode root) { 59 if (root == null) return null; 60 61 TreeWithCount twcRoot = new TreeWithCount(root.val); 62 twcRoot.left = buildTWC(root.left); 63 twcRoot.right = buildTWC(root.right); 64 if (twcRoot.left != null) twcRoot.count += twcRoot.left.count; 65 if (twcRoot.right != null) twcRoot.count += twcRoot.right.count; 66 return twcRoot; 67 } 68 69 class TreeWithCount { 70 int val; 71 int count; 72 TreeWithCount left; 73 TreeWithCount right; 74 public TreeWithCount (int val) { 75 this.val = val; 76 this.count = 1; 77 } 78 } 79 }