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Jeyaprasad R
Jeyaprasad R

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Finding the Maximum and Minimum Element in an Array

In this task, I worked on finding the minimum and maximum values from an array. Instead of writing everything in one place, I used a function to make the code cleaner and reusable.

What I Did

I created a function called find_min_max that takes an array as input and returns both the smallest and largest values.

For example:
Input: [1, 4, 3, 5, 8, 6]
Output: [1, 8]

How I Solved It

First, I assumed that the first element of the array is both the minimum and maximum. Then I used a loop to go through each number in the array.

While looping:

  • If a number is smaller than the current minimum, I update the minimum
  • If a number is larger than the current maximum, I update the maximum

At the end, I return both values as a list.

Code

def find_min_max(arr):
    minimum = arr[0]
    maximum = arr[0]
    for num in arr:
        if num < minimum:
            minimum = num
        if num > maximum:
            maximum = num
    return [minimum, maximum]

print(find_min_max([1, 4, 3, 5, 8, 6]))
print(find_min_max([12, 3, 15, 7, 9]))
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How It Works

The function checks each element only once. It keeps updating two variables (minimum and maximum) as it goes through the array. This makes the solution efficient and easy to understand.

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