Third smallest — practice exercise

What you'll be asked to do

1. 1.Third smallestexercise · easy · 10 min

   Find the element at sorted index two and show it.

   Passes when: #out should show value 7.

2. 2.Smallest overallexercise · easy · 10 min · practice plan

   Show the smallest value using sorted index zero.

   Passes when: #out should show value 3.

3. 3.Largest overallexercise · easy · 10 min · practice plan

   Show the largest value by picking the last sorted index.

   Passes when: #out should show value 20.

4. 4.Partition stepexercise · easy · 10 min · practice plan

   Partition around the last element and show where the pivot lands.

   Passes when: #out should show pivot at 1.

5. 5.Leave the input aloneexercise · medium · 10 min · practice plan

   Copy before selecting and confirm the source is unchanged.

   Passes when: #out should show source intact.

6. 6.Fix the k treated as a countbug fix · easy · 8 min

   Sorted index two is the third smallest, not the second.

   Passes when: #out should show value 7.

7. 7.Fix the largest read from the frontbug fix · easy · 8 min · practice plan

   After an ascending sort the largest sits at the end.

   Passes when: #out should show value 20.

8. 8.Fix the partition counting the pivotbug fix · medium · 8 min · practice plan

   Using <= lets a value equal to the pivot cross the boundary.

   Passes when: #out should show pivot at 1.

9. 9.Fix the select that reorders the caller's arraybug fix · easy · 8 min · practice plan

   Sorting without copying rearranges the original.

   Passes when: #out should show source intact.

10. 10.Fix the fixed pivotbug fix · easy · 8 min · practice plan

    Always taking the first element degrades to a quadratic scan on sorted input.

    Passes when: #out should show random pivot.

Between them these tasks cover Partitioning, Discarding a half and Kth element.

Looking for a different chapter? See every practice set, or switch to the interview theory questions.