Problem
Given a binary search tree, write a function kthSmallest to find the kth smallest element in it.
Note:
You may assume k is always valid, 1 ≤ k ≤ BST's total elements.
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?
Hint:
- Try to utilize the property of a BST.
- What if you could modify the BST node’s structure?
- The optimal runtime complexity is O(height of BST).
Example
Input: [1]
Output: 1
Algorithm
整理一下题意:给定一棵二叉搜索树和整数k,要求返回树中第k个最小的元素。假设k总是有效输入。
解题的关键在于利用好二叉搜索树的性质。二叉搜索树的特征是:左子<父<右子。于是中序遍历得到的序列必然是升序序列。于是根据k可以直接返回升序序列的第k-1项了。
代码如下。
//版本,时间复杂度O(n)
class Solution {
public:
int kthSmallest(TreeNode* root, int k) {
vector<int> path;
inorder(path,root);
return path[k-1];
}
void inorder(vector<int>& path,TreeNode* root){
if(root==NULL) return;
inorder(path,root->left);
path.push_back(root->val);
inorder(path,root->right);
}
};