Assignment: Quick Sort and Quick Select Applications
Objective
Explore the applications of Quick Sort and its variant Quick Select through the following
algorithmic challenges. These problems highlight how partition-based strategies can solve
more than just sorting problems efficiently.
Instructions
• Attempt all five problems listed below.
• You are encouraged to implement Quick Sort or Quick Select where applicable.
• Submit both code and a short write-up describing how Quick Sort concepts are used
in your solution.
Problems
Problem 1: Kth Largest Element in an Array
• Link: LeetCode #215
• Description: Find the k-th largest element in an unsorted array.
• Quick Sort Relevance: Solved efficiently using Quick Select, based
on the partitioning method of quicksort.
• Difficulty: Medium
Problem 2: Wiggle Sort II
• Link: LeetCode #324
• Description: Rearrange an unsorted array into a wiggle pattern such
that nums[0] < nums[1] > nums[2] < nums[3] . . .
• Quick Sort Relevance: Uses Quick Select to find the median, then
applies 3-way partitioning (Dutch National Flag algorithm).
• Difficulty: Medium–Hard
1
Problem 3: Find K Closest Elements
• Link: LeetCode #658
• Description: Given a sorted array, find the k closest elements to a given
target.
• Quick Sort Relevance: Can be solved using Quick Select-style par-
titioning based on proximity to the target.
• Difficulty: Medium
Problem 4: Top K Frequent Elements
• Link: LeetCode #347
• Description: Return the k most frequent elements in the array.
• Quick Sort Relevance: Can be solved with Quick Select on frequency
counts to improve performance over heap-based solutions.
• Difficulty: Medium
Problem 5: Sort Colors (Dutch National Flag Problem)
• Link: LeetCode #75
• Description: Sort an array of 0s, 1s, and 2s in-place.
• Quick Sort Relevance: Uses a 3-way partitioning strategy similar to
quicksort for efficient in-place sorting.
• Difficulty: Medium
Summary Table
Problem Quick Sort Concept Used Relevance
#215 Kth Largest Element Quick Select Classic use of partitioning
#324 Wiggle Sort II Quick Select + 3-way partition Advanced application
#658 K Closest Elements Partitioning strategy Efficient for large arrays
#347 Top K Frequent Elements Frequency partitioning Often faster than heaps
#75 Sort Colors Dutch National Flag algorithm Classic in-place trick
