Gain insights into competitive programming, explore C++ skills with theory, code samples, practice problems, and master faster implementation for contests like ACM ICPC, Google CodeJam, and HackerCup.

Competitive programming can be a great way to build out your programming skills, get on any major company’s radar, and earn a little extra cash along the way.

In this course, you will learn to prepare for competitive programming contests like ACM ICPC, Google CodeJam, Facebook HackerCup, and many more.

Each topic is broken down with a healthy mix of theory, code samples, step-by-step solved sample problems, illustrations, useful practice problems, and tips and tricks for faster implementation.

You will need some solid C++ foundations coming into this course, but by the end it, you will be confident enough in your C++ skills to take home the win.

Competitive Programming in C++: The Keys to Success

# Problem statement
Given an array, $A[]$, consisting of $N$ integers; for a given $K$, find the $K^{th}$ largest element in the array.

**Input format**

The first line consists of two integers $N$ and $K$ $(1 \leq K \leq N \leq 10^6)$.

The second line consists of $N$ integers representing the array $A[]$ $(1 \leq A[i] \leq 10^6)$.

---

# Sample
**Input 1**
```
5 1
3 6 5 1 4
```

**Output 1**
```
6
```

**Input 2**
```
5 4
3 6 5 1 4
```

**Output 2**
```
3
```

---

# Explanation

**Sample 1**: $K = 1$ means the $1^{st}$ largest in the entire array which is `6`.

**Sample 2**: $K = 4$ means the $4^{th}$ element if you sort the array in non-increasing order. i.e $4^{th}$ element in `[6 5 4 3 1]`, which is `3`.

---

# Brute force
The explanation for sample two suggests a very simple solution:


* Sort the array
* Print the $K^{th}$ number from right

When sorting, taking $O(NlogN)$ time and printing the $K^{th}$ element is a constant time operation.

Time complexity - $O(NlogN)$.



In this lesson, we'll discuss a solved heap problem.

Introduction

Complexity Analysis

Number Theory

Arrays and Vectors

Sieve of Eratosthenes

Strings

Sorting

Linked List

Stack

Queue

Binary Tree

2 Pointers

Heap

Binary Search Tree

Balanced Binary Search Tree

Course Conclusion

Solved Problem - Kth Largest element

Problem statement