Apply quickselect to find the median of the list of numbers

Apply quickselect to find the median of the list of numbers 9, 12, 5, 17, 30, 8.

Solution

def quick_select(numbers, k):
if len(numbers) != 0:
pivot = numbers[(len(numbers)) // 2]
small = []
for i in numbers:
if i < pivot:
small.append(i)
large = []
for i in numbers:
if i > pivot:
large.append(i)
count = len(numbers) - len(small) - len(large)
m = len(small)
if k >= m and k < m + count:
return pivot
print(pivot)
elif m > k:
return quick_select(small, k)
else:
return quick_select(large, k-m-count)

numbers = [9, 12, 5, 17, 30, 8]
k = len(numbers) // 2

print(quick_select(numbers, k))

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sample output:

12

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