Java: Find the kth smallest and largest element in a specified array

Last update on May 12 2025 13:12:13 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Kth Smallest and Largest

Write a Java program to find the kth smallest and largest element in a given array. Elements in the array can be in any order.

Visual Presentation:

Sample Solution:

Java Code:

import java.util.*;

public class Solution {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Initializing an array of integers
        Integer arr[] = new Integer[]{1, 4, 17, 7, 25, 3, 100};
        
        int k = 2; // Initializing the value of 'k' as 2
        
        // Displaying the original array
        System.out.println("Original Array: ");
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(arr));
        
        // Displaying the k'th smallest element of the array
        System.out.println("K'th smallest element of the said array: ");
        
        // Sorting the array in ascending order
        Arrays.sort(arr);
        
        // Printing the k'th smallest element from the sorted array
        System.out.print(arr[k-1] + " ");
        
        // Displaying the k'th largest element of the array
        System.out.println("\nK'th largest element of the said array:");
        
        // Sorting the array in descending order to find the k'th largest element
        Arrays.sort(arr, Collections.reverseOrder());
        
        // Printing the k'th largest element from the sorted array
        System.out.print(arr[k-1] + " ");
    }
} 

Sample Output:

Original Array: 
[1, 4, 17, 7, 25, 3, 100]
K'th smallest element of the said array: 
3 
K'th largest element of the said array:
25 

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a Java program to sort an array and then retrieve the kth smallest and kth largest elements.
• Write a Java program to find the kth smallest and largest elements using the quickselect algorithm.
• Write a Java program to compute both kth extremes simultaneously using a partition-based approach.
• Write a Java program to maintain dynamic kth smallest and largest values from a continuous stream of integers.

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