Search⌘ K
AI Features
Home
Courses
Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns

Solution: Kth Smallest Element in a Sorted Matrix

Explore an efficient solution to find the kth smallest element in a sorted n by n matrix by applying the k-way merge pattern. Understand how to use a min-heap to merge multiple sorted rows and extract the kth element while analyzing the algorithm's time and space complexities.

We'll cover the following...

Statement

Find the kthk^{th} smallest element in an (n×n)(n \times n) matrix, where each row and column of the matrix is sorted in ascending order.

Although there can be repeating values in the matrix, each element is considered unique and, therefore, contributes to calculating the kthk^{th} smallest element.

Constraints:

  • n ==== matrix.length
  • n ==== matrix[i].length
  • 1≤1\leq n ≤100\leq100
  • −103≤-10^3\leq
...