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#703
Easy Algorithms

Kth largest element in a stream

Tree Design Binary Search Tree Heap (Priority Queue) Binary Tree Data Stream
60.7% acceptance
Feb 21, 2026
6398
4060
You are part of a university admissions office and need to keep track of the kth highest test score from applicants in real-time. This helps to determine cut-off marks for interviews and admissions dynamically as new applicants submit their scores. You are tasked to implement a class which, for a given integer k, maintains a stream of test scores and continuously returns the kth highest test score after a new score has been submitted. More specifically, we are looking for the kth highest score in the sorted list of all scores. Implement the KthLargest class: KthLargest(int k, int[] nums) Initializes the object with the integer k and the stream of test scores nums. int add(int val) Adds a new test score val to the stream and returns the element representing the kth largest element in the pool of test scores so far.

Solution

Rust
Time O(n log n)
Space O(n)
LeetCode
solution.rs
/*
 * You are part of a university admissions office and need to keep track of the kth highest test score from applicants in real-time. This helps to determine cut-off marks for interviews and admissions dynamically as new applicants submit their scores.
 * You are tasked to implement a class which, for a given integer k, maintains a stream of test scores and continuously returns the kth highest test score after a new score has been submitted. More specifically, we are looking for the kth highest score in the sorted list of all scores.
 * Implement the KthLargest class:
 * KthLargest(int k, int[] nums) Initializes the object with the integer k and the stream of test scores nums.
 * int add(int val) Adds a new test score val to the stream and returns the element representing the kth largest element in the pool of test scores so far.
 * Example 1:
 * Input:
 * ["KthLargest", "add", "add", "add", "add", "add"]
 * [[3, [4, 5, 8, 2]], [3], [5], [10], [9], [4]]
 * Output: [null, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8]
 * Explanation:
 * KthLargest kthLargest = new KthLargest(3, [4, 5, 8, 2]);
 * kthLargest.add(3); // return 4
 * kthLargest.add(5); // return 5
 * kthLargest.add(10); // return 5
 * kthLargest.add(9); // return 8
 * kthLargest.add(4); // return 8
 * Example 2:
 * Input:
 * ["KthLargest", "add", "add", "add", "add"]
 * [[4, [7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 3]], [2], [10], [9], [9]]
 * Output: [null, 7, 7, 7, 8]
 * Explanation:
 * KthLargest kthLargest = new KthLargest(4, [7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 3]);
 * kthLargest.add(2); // return 7
 * kthLargest.add(10); // return 7
 * kthLargest.add(9); // return 7
 * kthLargest.add(9); // return 8
 * Constraints:
 * 0 <= nums.length <= 104
 * 1 <= k <= nums.length + 1
 * -104 <= nums[i] <= 104
 * -104 <= val <= 104
 * At most 104 calls will be made to add.

 * struct KthLargest {

 * }


 * /** 
 *  * `&self` means the method takes an immutable reference.
 *  * If you need a mutable reference, change it to `&mut self` instead.
 *  */
 * impl KthLargest {

 *     fn new(k: i32, nums: Vec<i32>) -> Self {

 *     }

 *     fn add(&self, val: i32) -> i32 {

 *     }
 * }
 */
use std::collections::BinaryHeap;
use std::cmp::Reverse;

struct KthLargest {
  k: usize,
  heap: BinaryHeap<Reverse<i32>>,
}

impl KthLargest {
  fn new(k: i32, nums: Vec<i32>) -> Self {
    let mut kl = KthLargest {
      k: k as usize,
      heap: BinaryHeap::new(),
    };
    for n in nums {
      kl.add(n);
    }
    kl
  }

  fn add(&mut self, val: i32) -> i32 {
    self.heap.push(Reverse(val));
    while self.heap.len() > self.k {
      self.heap.pop();
    }
    self.heap.peek().unwrap().0
  }
}