Kth Smallest Element in a BST

Given a binary search tree, write a function kthSmallest to find the kth smallest element in it.

Note: You may assume k is always valid, 1 ≤ k ≤ BST’s total elements.

Example 1:

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Input: root = [3,1,4,null,2], k = 1
   3
  / \
 1   4
  \
   2
Output: 1

Example 2:

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Input: root = [5,3,6,2,4,null,null,1], k = 3
       5
      / \
     3   6
    / \
   2   4
  /
 1
Output: 3

Follow up: What if the BST is modified (insert/delete operations) often and you need to find the kth smallest frequently? How would you optimize the kthSmallest routine?

Solution:

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/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode left;
 *     TreeNode right;
 *     TreeNode() {}
 *     TreeNode(int val) { this.val = val; }
 *     TreeNode(int val, TreeNode left, TreeNode right) {
 *         this.val = val;
 *         this.left = left;
 *         this.right = right;
 *     }
 * }
 */
class Solution {

    int level = 0;
    int answer = -1;
    public void inorder(TreeNode node, int k) {
        if (node == null) {
            return;
        }

        inorder(node.left, k);
        level++;
        if (level == k) {
            answer = node.val;
            return;
        }

        inorder(node.right, k);
    }

    public int kthSmallest(TreeNode root, int k) {
        inorder(root, k);
        return answer;
    }
}