C program to find the third largest element in an array using bubble sort

February 24, 2026

C Program to Solve Two Sum Using Brute Force (With Algorithm & Output)

Introduction The Two Sum problem is a popular coding interview question where we must find two indices of an array whose values add up to a given target. This program demonstrates a simple brute-force solution in C using nested loops and dynamic memory allocation. Problem Statement Given an integer array and a target value, return the indices of the two numbers such that they add up to the target. Each input has exactly one solution, and the same element cannot be used twice. The result should return the indices, not the values. If no solution exists, return NULL. Algorithm / Logic Explanation Start the program. Traverse the array using a loop from index 0 to numsSize - 1 . Inside this loop, use another loop starting from i + 1 to numsSize - 1 . For every pair (i, j) , check if nums[i] + nums[j] == target . If condition becomes true: Allocate memory for 2 integers using malloc() . Store indices i and j . Set returnSize = 2 . Return the result poi...

C PROGRAM TO FIND THE THIRD LARGEST ELEMENT USING BUBBLE SORT

Source Code:

#include<stdio.h>

int thirdlargest(int a[], int num)
{
    for(int i = 0; i < num - 1; i++)
    {
        for(int j = 0; j < num - i - 1; j++)
        {
            if(a[j] > a[j+1])
            {
                int temp = a[j];
                a[j] = a[j+1];
                a[j+1] = temp;
            }
        }
    }
    printf("Third largest element in the array: %d\n", a[num - 3]);
}

int main()
{
    int num;
    printf("Enter the size of the array:\n");
    scanf("%d", &num);
    
    if(num < 3)
    {
        printf("Invalid! Need at least 3 numbers to find the third largest element.\n");
        return 1;
    }
    
    int a[num];
    printf("Enter %d elements:\n", num);
    for(int i = 0; i < num; i++)
    {
        scanf("%d", &a[i]);
    }
    
    thirdlargest(a, num);
    return 0;
}

Explanation:

This program uses the bubble sort method to find the third largest number in an array:

It first sorts the array in ascending order.
After sorting, the third largest number is the element at position num - 3.
It checks if the array has at least 3 elements before processing.

Sample Output:

Enter the size of the array:
6
Enter 6 elements:
10 25 33 50 8 40
Third largest element in the array: 33

Keywords:

third largest element in C, bubble sort example, array sorting in C, basic C programs with output, C programming questions

Search This Blog

1PRINTF

Featured

C Program to Solve Two Sum Using Brute Force (With Algorithm & Output)