README.md

230. Kth Smallest Element in a BST

Given a binary search tree, write a function kthSmallest to find the kth smallest element in it.

Example 1:

Input: root = [3,1,4,null,2], k = 1
   3
  / \
 1   4
  \
   2
Output: 1

Example 2:

Input: root = [5,3,6,2,4,null,null,1], k = 3
       5
      / \
     3   6
    / \
   2   4
  /
 1
Output: 3

Follow up:

What if the BST is modified (insert/delete operations) often and you need to find the kth smallest frequently? How would you optimize the kthSmallest routine?

Constraints:

• The number of elements of the BST is between 1 to 10^4.
• You may assume k is always valid, 1 ≤ k ≤ BST's total elements.

Solutions (Ruby)

1. Inorder Traversal

# Definition for a binary tree node.
# class TreeNode
#     attr_accessor :val, :left, :right
#     def initialize(val = 0, left = nil, right = nil)
#         @val = val
#         @left = left
#         @right = right
#     end
# end
# @param {TreeNode} root
# @param {Integer} k
# @return {Integer}
def kth_smallest(root, k)
    stack = []

    while true
        until root.nil?
            stack.push(root)
            root = root.left
        end

        root = stack.pop
        k -= 1

        return root.val if k == 0

        root = root.right
    end
end