<p>Given the <code>root</code> of a binary search tree, and an integer <code>k</code>, return <em>the</em> <code>k<sup>th</sup></code> <em>smallest value (<strong>1-indexed</strong>) of all the values of the nodes in the tree</em>.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p>
<img alt="" src="https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/01/28/kthtree1.jpg" style="width: 212px; height: 301px;" />
<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> root = [3,1,4,null,2], k = 1
<strong>Output:</strong> 1
</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 2:</strong></p>
<img alt="" src="https://assets.leetcode.com/uploads/2021/01/28/kthtree2.jpg" style="width: 382px; height: 302px;" />
<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> root = [5,3,6,2,4,null,null,1], k = 3
<strong>Output:</strong> 3
</pre>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>The number of nodes in the tree is <code>n</code>.</li>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= k &lt;= n &lt;= 10<sup>4</sup></code></li>
	<li><code>0 &lt;= Node.val &lt;= 10<sup>4</sup></code></li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Follow up:</strong> If the BST is modified often (i.e., we can do insert and delete operations) and you need to find the kth smallest frequently, how would you optimize?</p>

class Solution {
public:
    int kthSmallest(TreeNode* root, int k) {
        int cnt = 0;
        return solve(root, cnt, k);
    }
    
    int solve(TreeNode* root, int &cnt, int k) {
        if (root == NULL) {
            return -1;
        }
        int left = solve(root->left, cnt, k);
        if (left != -1) {
            return left;
        }
        cnt++;
        if (cnt == k) {
            return root->val;
        }
        return solve(root->right, cnt, k);
    }
};
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