{"id":11687,"date":"2023-01-16T13:12:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T13:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prepbytes.com\/blog\/?p=11687"},"modified":"2023-08-21T06:26:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T06:26:08","slug":"kth-largest-element-in-an-array","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prepbytes.com\/blog\/kth-largest-element-in-an-array\/","title":{"rendered":"Kth Largest Element in an Array"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The objective is to identify the Kth largest item within an array. It’s important to recognize that this problem is slightly more complex than simply locating the largest or smallest element in the array. Here, ‘K’ signifies the size of the array’s set of values.<\/p>\n

What is the kth largest element in an array?<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s see an example to understand what is the kth largest element in an array.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s find 3rd largest element in the above array.<\/p>\n

3rd largest element in the array = 64 ( 1st = 94, 2nd = 75 )<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see a few other largest elements in the above array.<\/p>\n

5th largest element in the array = 45<\/p>\n

7th largest element in the array = 22<\/p>\n

How to find the kth largest element in an array?<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s see different approaches to finding the kth largest element in an array.<\/p>\n

Approach 1: Sorting<\/h3>\n

Below are the steps to find the kth largest element in an array using the sorting method,<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Sort the array into descending order<\/li>\n
  • The kth largest element will be arr[k-1] because of 0-based indexing.<\/li>\n
  • The kth smallest element will be arr[n-k] where n is the length of an array.<\/li>\n
  • If the array is sorted into ascending order then,<\/li>\n
  • The kth largest element will be arr[n-k]<\/li>\n
  • The kth smallest element will be arr[k-1]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Let\u2019s understand this approach to find the kth largest element in an array with an example.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    In the above example, if k=3 then the 3rd largest element will be 64. If k=4 then the 4th largest element will be 61.<\/p>\n

    Now, let\u2019s see how to write a program to find the kth largest element in an array.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t