Kth smallest in sorted matrix
Given an n x n matrix where each row is sorted in ascending order (rows are independently sorted; columns are NOT necessarily sorted), and an integer k (1-indexed, 1 <= k <= total elements), return the k-th smallest element across the whole matrix. Duplicate values count as separate elements.
Implement
kth_smallest_in_matrix(matrix: list[list[int]], k: int) → intExamples
in
[[[1,5,9],[10,11,13],[12,13,15]],8]out13What a strong answer looks like
State your approach and its time/space complexity out loud before you optimize. Handle the edge cases (empty input, duplicates, overflow), and say why you chose this over the brute force. Green tests are the floor, not the grade.
0:00 of about 35 min
solution.py
InputExpectedGot
[[[1,5,9],[10,11,13],[12,13,15]],8]13not run yetsample