FlareStart
HomeNewsHow ToSources
FlareStart

Where developers start their day. All the tech news & tutorials that matter, in one place.

Quick Links

  • Home
  • News
  • Tutorials
  • Sources
  • Privacy Policy

Connect

© 2026 FlareStart. All rights reserved.

Back to articles
Kth Smallest Element in an Array
How-ToProgramming Languages

Kth Smallest Element in an Array

via Dev.to PythonAnjana R.K.3h ago

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.

Continue reading on Dev.to Python

Opens in a new tab

Read Full Article
0 views

Related Articles

Understand OpenClaw by Building One — Part 7
How-To

Understand OpenClaw by Building One — Part 7

Medium Programming • 1h ago

The Systems Question That Separates Juniors From Seniors
How-To

The Systems Question That Separates Juniors From Seniors

Medium Programming • 2h ago

[Learning notes and hw] getting started with R-cnn: Manually implementing Intersection over Union (IoU)
How-To

[Learning notes and hw] getting started with R-cnn: Manually implementing Intersection over Union (IoU)

Dev.to Beginners • 3h ago

Botanical garden
How-To

Botanical garden

Dev.to Tutorial • 8h ago

Task 3: Delivery Man Task
How-To

Task 3: Delivery Man Task

Dev.to • 8h ago

Discover More Articles