#0149

Kth Largest With a Min Heap

MediumDSA25 min20 XP

Problem

Given nums and k, return the kth largest value. Use a heap of size at most k.

Why This Matters

Top-k problems appear in rankings, recommendations, logs, and streaming analytics where sorting everything is wasteful.

Function Signature

def kth_largest(nums, k):

Examples

Example 1

Input[3, 2, 1, 5, 6, 4], k = 2

Output5

The two largest values are 6 and 5, so the 2nd largest is 5.

Constraints

Return the exact requested value.
Handle empty or small inputs when the prompt allows them.
Keep the code readable and deterministic.

CodePython

def kth_largest(nums, k):
    """
    Input example: [3, 2, 1, 5, 6, 4], k = 2
    Return: 5
    Return the value from the function so the tests can compare it. Do not print unless the prompt asks.
    """
    # write your code here
    return None

def kth_largest(nums, k):
    """
    Input example: [3, 2, 1, 5, 6, 4], k = 2
    Return: 5
    Return the value from the function so the tests can compare it. Do not print unless the prompt asks.
    """
    # write your code here
    return None

Visible browser tests run here when available.

Testcases1 visible / 3 hidden categories

Core example

Input[3, 2, 1, 5, 6, 4], k = 2

Expected5

The two largest values are 6 and 5, so the 2nd largest is 5.

Hidden Test Categories

empty or smallest inputduplicates or repeated valueslarger realistic input