Finding Minimum and Maximum in an Array

Hi everyone!
I was practicing some basic array problems and came across this one, which is simple but important for building fundamentals.

Problem
We are given an array, and we need to find:

• the minimum element
• the maximum element

Example:
Input: [1, 4, 3, 5, 8, 6]

Output: [1, 8]

My Approach
At first, I thought about sorting the array and then picking the first and last elements.

But then I realized:

• Sorting takes O(n log n) time
• We can actually do it in O(n) using just one loop So I used a simple traversal method.

Logic

• Assume the first element is both min and max
• Traverse the array
• Update min and max whenever needed

Code (Python)
class Solution:
def getMinMax(self, arr):
min_val = arr[0]
max_val = arr[0]

    for num in arr:
        if num < min_val:
            min_val = num
        if num > max_val:
            max_val = num

    return [min_val, max_val]

Time & Space Complexity

• Time:O(n) (single loop)
• Space:O(1) (no extra space used)

What I Learned

• Not every problem needs sorting
• Always try to think of a better approach before coding
• Even simple problems help strengthen logic

Thanks for reading!
If you have a better approach or suggestion, feel free to share.