Top N Elements Function | Dataford Interview Questions

Heartflow analysis workflows may produce a list of numeric scores that must be prioritized for review. Given a list of scores, return the n largest values efficiently without fully sorting the list.

Formal Specification

Implement top_n_scores(scores, n), where scores is a list of integers or floating-point numbers and n is a positive integer. Return a new list containing exactly the n largest values, including duplicate values, ordered from largest to smallest. The input list must not be modified.

Use an approach that is efficient when n is much smaller than the number of scores.

Constraints

1 <= len(scores) <= 100000
1 <= n <= len(scores)
Each score is an integer or floating-point number
Scores may be negative
Duplicate scores are allowed
The input list must remain unchanged

Function Signature

def top_n_scores(scores, n):

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