Top 'K' Elements

The counter-intuitive rule: for the k LARGEST, use a MIN-heap of size k. The top is the weakest survivor, so it is exactly the one to evict when something…

Keep a min-heap of size k so the smallest value in the heap is always the k-th largest in the entire stream seen so far.

Track the k smallest distances using a max-heap of size k keyed by distance (evict the farthest when you have k + 1 candidates).

Count frequencies with a map, then use a size-k min-heap with a custom order so the root is always the worst kept candidate (lowest freq, then…