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Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns in Python

Solution: Smallest Range Covering Elements from K Lists

Explore how to identify the smallest range containing at least one element from each of multiple sorted lists. Learn to apply a min heap technique to dynamically track the current smallest and largest values, allowing efficient narrowing of the range. This lesson helps you understand the solution logic, implement it in Python, and analyze its time and space complexity for optimal performance.

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Statement

You are given kk sorted lists of integers, nums, where each list in nums is in non-decreasing order. Your task is to find the smallest range that contains at least one element from each of the kk lists.

A range [a,b][a,b] is considered smaller than another range [c,d][c,d] if b−a<d−cb−a<d−c, or a<ca < c if b−a==d−cb-a==d-c ...