Find kth largest element in interval list
Last updated: December 18, 2025
Quick Overview
Given a list of intervals, each defined by a start and end point, find the k-th largest interval based on their lengths. The lengths of the intervals are calculated as the difference between the end and start points. Your solution should efficiently handle the input and output the k-th largest interval length.
Meta
December 18, 20256
11
1,155 solved
Given a list of intervals, each defined by a start and end point, find the k-th largest interval based on their lengths. The lengths of the intervals are calculated as the difference between the end and start points. Your solution should efficiently handle the input and output the k-th largest interval length.
Coding interviews at Meta focus on problem-solving approach as much as the final solution. The interviewer wants to see you break down the problem, consider edge cases, and optimize iteratively. Communication throughout the process is key.
What the Interviewer Expects
- Quickly identify the optimal approach and its theoretical basis
- Handle complex algorithm design with multiple interacting components
- Write concise, elegant code under time pressure
- Prove correctness of your approach and discuss alternative solutions
- Optimize beyond the obvious: discuss constant factor improvements
- Address follow-up variations and explain how the solution generalizes
Key Topics to Cover
How to Approach This
- Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
- Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
- Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
- Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
- Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
Possible Follow-up Questions
- Can you solve this in a single pass?
- How would you parallelize this solution?
- How would your solution change if the input was sorted?
- What is the worst-case input for your solution?
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Problem Analysis
To solve the problem of finding the k-th largest interval based on their lengths from a list of intervals, we can identify that the core requirement is to efficiently calculate and compare the lengths...
Approach
- Calculate Lengths: First, we will create a list of lengths from the given intervals by iterating through the interval list and calculating
length = end - startfor each interval. For example,...
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